Happy New Year!

Another year bites the dust and a new one begins. We had a relatively quiet end to the year but December was not without a surprise or two locally.

The biggest surprise was the White Christmas that most weather pros didn't see coming. The best the official prognosticators had was ice and sleet quickly turning to rain on Christmas eve. What we got in Portland and north was almost all snow and about 1-4 inches depending locale. I got a little over 2 inches at my house. The weather guys doubled down on warmer weather and mother nature kicked them in crotch with chillier than expected temps for a few days past Christmas which left the white stuff on the ground until warmer weather came on Thursday the 28th.

December had no real craziness however. No epic rain event, no heat wave and no deep freeze. The month was bone dry (for us at least) with just shy of three inches in the rain bucket against a typical eight inches. The Cascade snow pack is a bit thin this year and December is an important snow-packing month that really failed to deliver. 

Warmest temp came on the 6th when it was a nice fall-like 57.6° the balmiest overnight temp came on the 29th when the merc stayed toasty at 47.1° under a pounding rain. The coldest morning was the 11th with a mark of 22.6° chilly but nowhere near any kind of significant cold. The chilliest daytime high came on the 24th when we failed to get above freezing with a 31.1° which led off a string of three days with low 30s for highs. Again nothing really cold, but chilly none-the-less.

Rainfall was weak sauce for December with 2.96 inches falling into the bucket and the soggiest day was a modest soaking of 0.59 inches on the  29th one of only two days with a half inch of rain or more.

2017 ended with 42.14 inches of rain the most falling in February with 9.41 inches. 10.7 inches of snow for the calendar year. The wettest day having 1.61 inches rain and snowiest day brought 5 inches. The coldest temp of 2017 was 13.3° the chilliest daytime high was 28°. The warmest temp was 103.6° and the warmest night was 67.3°. The year saw an average daily high of 61.26° and an average daily low of 43.78°. We had 54 days with a 1/4 inch or more of rain and 15 days with snow, sleet, or ice. We had 7 afternoons that failed to get above freezing and six days with temps below 20°. I recorded 14 days at or above 90° and three days in triple digits. 51 mornings fell below freezing, 167 days managed to bust out above 60°. 145 days were sunny or partly sunny and 128 days saw some rain or showers. 

December 24th, 2017

Overall 2017 was a pretty average year. It was the fourth coldest year for mean temp. A notable was the appearance of snow for Christmas. I have only measured snow on the 24th or 25th four times in the 17 years of record keeping at this location. Christmas Day 2007 I had flurries which briefly accumulated to maybe a half inch but melted within a couple hours. Christmas 2008 was the epic monster White Christmas with the 24th getting 2.25 inches followed by another 2 inches on Christmas Day this all on top on more than foot on the ground prior. Christmas Eve 2016 had some flurries and sleet that briefly stuck but it was barely measurable. Christmas eve 2017 with a nice 2 inches of snow that stuck around for few days.

New Year's Day was gorgeous with a crisp morning and brilliant sunshine all day long. Hello 2018 and Happy New Year to all.