Tuesday, December 5, 2017

Holidays at the Beach

This article was posted today on my Coastal Living Blog. This is Storm Watching Time!

The holidays at the beach can be either busy or quiet depending on where you go. December is one of the 'stormier' months and tends to attract storm watchers from the inland areas. Winter storms hit the coast with a special kind of vigor that is not often seen in the Portland Metro Area.

The temperature tends to be a bit warmer along the coast as the mighty Pacific Ocean moderates things a bit. But the rain and wind can come like a tropical storm, sans the warm temps of course. This is winter at the Beach.

As for the holidays the usual buzz can be felt at stores and commercial areas. The Long Beach Peninsula however is much more quiet on the roadways during the Holidays than in big cities like Portland and Vancouver. That can be very nice.

Be sure to head out to Long Beach for the New Year's Eve fireworks on the beach. A five minute deluge of mighty booms and sparks will welcome in 2018 at mid night.

That's all I got this time round, see you next year.

Friday, December 1, 2017

Ho Ho Ho... another December is upon us

Another month is closed out and November, 2017 was damp and mild all month long. Some oddities about last month include nary a freezing temp all month long. In fact the average morning low was a balmy two over normal at 40.68°. Daytime highs were spot on average however right at 50°. The month yielded 19 days with rain and just 5 days with any real sunshine. That is a Northwest November. About six inches in the bucket which is fair but a bit drier than the normal 8 inches.

Temps were mild all month with no extremes at all. The warmest temp was a modest 59.7° on the 23rd and the chilliest morning a warmish 35.1° on the 18th. The coldest afternoon high was the nippy 40.6° recorded on the 6th and the toastiest overnight low came on the morn of the 29th when it only dipped to 49.6°. Exactly one half of the days managed to bust out over 50°.

The water works were wet but well below a typical November. 19 days and just six inches meant it was mostly showery. There were three of hydro-pumper days above 1/2 inch including the soggy 15th when nearly an inch came down (0.95 in). Not one snowflake fluttered in the breeze but several days saw snow levels dip down to the lower hills above 1500 feet.

If this first two months of autumn is any indicator of our winter, I'd say it will be rather mild this season. But alas, autumn is not a reliable indicator for winter. The magically merry day of Christmas is now just four and a half weeks out and one never knows what the potentially chilly month will bring. I will always vote for a white Christmas but the Northwest Weather  Gods rarely grant that wish. More than likely any snow will come after the New Year as my cumulative snowfall totals are heavy stacked in the first two weeks of January.

Happy Holidays and be sure to soak it up my friends; soak it up.