Broke a Record and Tied Another Today

Coming into today, this winter season was tied as the third snowiest on record since I started keeping snowfall records at this location in the winter of 2001-02. This morning I enjoyed a little dusting of snow. Only about a 1/4 inch stuck to the ground but it was enough to move this 2016-17 winter season alone into 3rd place as a solid bronze medalist. Coming into today this season was tied for the most number of days the Evergreen School District was closed for winter weather at 7 days. This little dusting did not result in any school closures of course so that remains a tie. Today did advance the 2016-17 winter season into a first place tie with the 2008-09 season as most days with measurable snowfall at 24. 2008-09 is the snowiest I have on record at 28.75 inches. We are not even have way to that total this year. I currently have a total of  30 days with at least a trace of snow lying on the ground. The record of 39 days with snow on the ground set back in 2006-07 is pretty safe at this point. That season only had 10.7 inches all year but January of 2007 had snow on the ground nearly every day of the month. I doubt we will get 9 more snow days before the warm rays of spring arrive.

All in all this winter will go down as a notably chilly one. 14.3 inches of snow is hardly a major total but we did the January storm that dumped a lot more snow on the west side than here at my house. Areas west of I-5 in Vancouver saw one day snow totals well over a foot which compares to a mere 7 inches that I got here. So in local lore this winter will carry more weight than others with similar snow totals. The Top three snowiest and epic winters since I started keeping my records are as follows:

1. 2008-09 - 28.75 inches (Christmas Storm)
2. 2003-04 - 22.90 inches (Great Ice Storm)
3. 2016-17 - 14.30 inches (I-5 Blizzard)

There you have my friends records they be broken... soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Chilly but no Records

Another month is in the books and once again this winter is proving to be chillier than average as February came in well under the established norm.

Unlike December and January which had some significant snowfall, the shortest month was rather ho-hum. It was cooler and wetter than average, but uneventful for the most part.

Temperatures were cool but no daily records fell for me. The chilliest temp came on the morning of the 13th when it was 28°. The coldest daytime high temp came on the 3rd when the mercury could push past 36.3°. We did have some fairly warm weather despite the overall nip in the air. Three days managed to get above 55° including the toasty 60.4° recorded on the 13th. Yes it was one of those late winter oddities where the both the monthly coldest temp and warmest temp occurred on the same day. I mentioned that no records fell but what made this month chilly was the consistently cool daytime highs over most of the month. February is a month where 50s start to show up regularly and this last month saw just four temps over 50° all month. My observed average daily marks were a slightly cooler than normal 34.81° L and very cool four degrees under normal 45.67° H. I had five days that failed to breech the 40° mark which is not unusual in December or January but definitely out of character for February. Everyday last month did manage to at least get above the freezing mark.

As far as precipitation is concerned, last month was all wet. I recorded a soggy 9.41 inches of rain. I had three wet days over an inch including a soaker 1.66 inches on the 16th. I was a whopping 3.5 inches over my established normal for the month.

Despite the cool temps and copious precipitation, I had only a tiny trace of snowfall over four days totaling a practically nil, 1/4 inch. That little bit however has launched the 2016-17 winter snow season into a 3rd place tie with 2011-12 as far as measured snowfall at my location dating to 2001. I stand at 14.05 inches of snow going into March, a month with a 16 year average of 0.85 inches. It would take a record breaking monthly snowfall for March (2012, 7.85 inches) to move our snow year into 2nd place (2003-04, 22.90 inches) and 1st place (2008-09, 28.75 inches) is simply out of reach this late in the season.

We spent nearly the whole month of February hovering just under the snow level. The NWS has showers and rain all week but they have tossed in a little chance of some snow mixing in on Sunday. If that happens and I get some measurable snow, 2016-17 will stand on the podium of snowy winters, with the bronze, at least since 2001. As for a record breaking March, don't hold your breath; since 2001 only that one March in 2012 yielded more than 1.6 inches. I'm pretty sure the 7.85 inches in March of 2012 was a freak of nature!

March is a fickle month, it can be very spring-like, but it can be wintry as well. Who knows? Just get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up!