Last month was rather wet and that typically translates into warmer temps. My observed averages looked more like November or February than January. 3° above normal for the lows and about 2° warmer by day. I had six days in January that broker above 50° and one day got super close to SIXTY! In fact the official measurements at both PDX and Pearson hit 61° on the 13th when I had 59.4° here. That same day resulted in the wettest one day rainfall of the season with 1.96 inches in the bucket. Yeah, that's pineapple express. I only had five days that recorded a freezing temp and everyday managed to get above freezing in the afternoon. The coldest daytime high was only a couple of degrees under the "normal" high, that was a 39.1° mark the afternoon of the 26th when the only snow of the month and season so far fell. It wasn't much. The warmest overnight low was 45° mark the morning of the 2nd. Every day save for two made it into the 40s. The coldest overnight low was a seasonably chilly 24.8° on the 23rd. There were eleven overnight lows that stayed in the 40s!
I mentioned pineapple express and that was the scene for most of the month with warm temps and buckets of rain. I measured 8.4 inches last month against the more typical 7 inches. The warm temps kept the snow levels high and the lower foothills saw mostly rain. Higher up the snow came down by the yard. The wettest day, the aforementioned 13th with a balmy 59.4° high and nearly 2 inches in the bucket. That was one of seven days producing more than 1/4 inch of rain of which five produce more than 1/2 inch and two over an inch. There were 24 days with precipitation. The only snow event was a paltry short lived 1/4 inch on the 26th. Most areas down low saw nothing stick and not much more than flurries, higher plains around 300 feet saw the light dusting hang around for an hour or so. Weak sauce. This is early yet in the second half of winter, so there's still time, but if no more snow falls this season it will be the least snowy since the winter of 2002-03.
The outlook for the rest of winter is a bit questionable. Right now there is a dip in the jet stream sending heavy rain into California. Sometimes these dips can let cold arctic air invade the region. Over the last ten years we have had several cold events with heavy snow in the second half of winter.
- February 2011: 5.8 inches (9.4 inches total season)
- March 2012: 7.9 inches (14 inches total season)
- February 2014: 11.1 inches (12.9 inches total season)
- February 2018: 8.5 inches (11 inches total season)
- February 2019: 7.5 inches (8.3 inches total season)
- March 2020: 3 inches (5 inches total season)
