Coldest January in Years!

We just closed out a chilly January here in the Metro Portland/Vancouver area. We had it all, bitter cold, snow, sleet, freezing rain, regular rain and even a little sunshine just for good measure. The local news in nearby Portland, OR has been reporting that last month was the coldest January on record sine 1979 and the coldest month since 1985. Of note, January 1979 was MUCH colder as sub zero temps were recorded here in the 'Couv' that year.

For those reading this blog from places like Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, laugh it up because our "coldest" is about normal for you guys. For us it was a bona fide chilly month.

Starting with the temperatures, we were well below average. My 16 year average for January is 33.47 low and 44.62 high. Last month I observed an average low of 27.34 and average high of 39.34. That is a whopping 6 under on the low and 5 under on the high! Most of this was driven by a very cold first two weeks and then a typical last two weeks. Unlike 1979 which was driven by a massive arctic event with the aforementioned sub zero and single digit marks that may have skewed the whole month, this last month was not driven by epic cold but rather an extended cold. I have a several daily record lows based on my 16 years reporting. Here are my daily records for overnight lows, again I only have 16 years of data and most of these lows are not likely all-time daily lows. They are however recent daily lows and to have this many in one month is what is unusual not the actual temps themselves. None of these lows are any where near as cold as the lowest I have recorded in the last 16 years at this location.

• Jan 5th 17.2
• Jan 6th 13.3
• Jan 7th 19.0
• Jan 13th 13.5
• Jan 14th 13.3
• Jan 15th 14.5
• Jan 16th 21.0

I also had a couple of daily highs that were the coldest on record for me at this location but none were anywhere near my all time record cold. Here they are:

• Jan 6th 35.2
• Jan 7th 31.1
• Jan 8th 37.0
• Jan 11th 31.6
• Jan 13th 28.0
• Jan 17th 34.3

Temperatures in the rural areas just outside of Vancouver, such as Brush Prairie, WA saw temperatures plunge into the low single digits. Long after the frozen ponds in the city thawed they remained frozen for weeks in the country. The all-time record low that I have recorded here dating back to 2002 is 8.7 degrees on the 9th of December 2009. The coldest daytime high I recorded here is January 6th 2004 when 20.2 was the warmest temp of the day. These lows fail miserably against the all time lows for Orchards, Washington which is the closet "official" station to me where -11 degrees is the mark to beat. Do to the heavy urbanization of this part of Vancouver since 1950 when that mark was recorded, it is likely to remain in perpetuity.

January 2017 had six days with lows under 20 degrees and 22 days below freezing. There were 5 days in which the mercury was unable to break above freezing and that is above the average for the whole season. The coldest low came on the 6th with 13.3, the warmest overnight low was 38.7 on the 19th. The warmest temp arrived on the same day as the warmest low when we had out lone 50 plus day at 51.3 degrees. The chilliest daytime high was the 13th when 28 under sunny skies was all she had. We can't underestimate the effect of a foot or so of snow on the ground had on the overnight lows. 

January 11th. 2017, Northeast Vancouver

Precipitation was light as far as water content rainfall is concerned but snow was well above average for the month. A typical January yields 7.05 inches of rain and last month garnered just 3.19. It was a very dry and cold air mass and that low water count was offset by 8.05 inches of frozen precipitation at my location. I average about 40 percent more snow than PDX but this last month the snow was heavier along the I-5 corridor than it was at my location. Downtown Vancouver had over a foot on the ground last month. The bulk of my snowfall came over two days when 5 inches and 2 inches hit on the 10th and 11th of the month. The 8 plus inches I recorded is the second most in January since I started measuring in 2002. It does pale against the more than 16 inches that came in January of 2004. It is the 4th snowiest month since 2002 for me and it was well above the 3.3 inches I average in January. This season so far is the 4th snowiest winter I have dating to the 2001-2002 season. I am sitting at 13.85 inches thus far and I still have two potentially snowy months ahead. February and March average for me 1.28 and 0.91 respectively so it is possible that we could knock the number three season out since we just need a 1/4 inch to do it. I have not had ANY snowfall in February since 2014 when I had over 11 inches. I haven't had any sticking snow in March since 2012 when I had a crazy 7.85 inches. My gut says I'll get another 1/2 inch at least before the end of the season so there is a solid chance that this will go down as the 3rd snowiest winter since I started recording data in 2002.

January 12th, Downtown Vancouver

Overall this winter has been the rather chilly by our standards. We are blessed to have a very mild winter despite our northerly latitude of 45.6 degrees. Mind you that is substantially further north than much colder places like Minneapolis, Boston, and even Portland ME. Our close proximity to the Pacific Ocean and the protection of both the Cascades and Rockies from the wicked continental cold keeps us relatively warm. Our winters are rather short all things considered with about six weeks in the fro-zone. 

Here we are in February and the average temps will typically rise steeply. From Mid December to Mid January we are delighted if we get a day that tickles the 50 mark, but in February our average daily high is already approaching 50 degrees. we may not be finished with frozen precipitation but we are headed rapidly towards spring.

Later this week we may see some more snow and ice but it will likely be minor and only serve as a gentle reminder that winter does extend into March; officially at least.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.