Winter Weather will transition to Classic Rain

Rain is washing snow away 10:00 am

Starting all the way back on December 4th when I got the first snowflakes of the season with a series of light flurries to this morning where another 3/4 inch of snow and then ice was deposited on my yard, I have accumulated just over 5 inches of winter precipitation and that is well above my 15 year average of 2.7 inches in December.

The first system brought an inch of wet snow that stayed on the ground for the afternoon but was gone my early evening. The second bout of snow brought me 2 inches of fluffy white snow and howling winds that blew the snow all over until it came to rest on the east side of some immovable barrier like a house or fence. That system had entrenched cold air that kept us chilly and left the snow on the ground for 4 days. Then another blast of arctic air mixed with moisture from the south made way north. The southern half of the metro area got upwards of 5 inches where I got about an inch and a half here in the north. The remnants of that snow and the fresh layer from this morning remain on the ground here on day six but it will be gone by the end of the day. I got 34 degrees showing and it is steady snow eating rain that is falling from the sky.

We are expected to see some locally heavy rain later in the week possibly 2-3 inches and snow levels will rise up above pass levels for a bit before returning to a more typical 2000-3000 feet.  But what of Christmas now just six days on the horizon? Right now the NWS in Portland has us forecast for a cool 38 on Christmas Day the low Christmas morning should be just a tad above freezing. This far out, who knows, a little shift in the atmosphere could drop us back into the snow zone. Statistics do not favor this however.

Let's sit back and soak it all up my friends, soak it up. Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas be it white or green :)