Musings about our Clark County weather
The last two months featured typical summer weather and we didn't see much in the way of records. This blog is going to change a bit from a monthly review of local weather statistics to more of an anecdotal review of weather and extreme events as they occur. I will continue to gather data but will not be presenting monthly stats on a schedule as I have before.
I will return with more information soon.
It's true, other than a couple days it wasn't really that warm last month, yet the data has something else to say. May 2023 set several warm temp records and by several I mean EIGHT, yes eight daily records for my station fell. Bear in mind these are not true 'all time' records as I have operated a weather station at this location for the last 22 years. That however is still a lot of dailies to fall in one month.
It is not unusual for May to bring the seasons first 90º mark and in fact May did just that this year. We cracked that on May 13th and would follow it up with another on May 15th. A total of two days at or above 90º and several other days in the 80s. Nary a freezing temperature all month and that is no surprise as subfreezing weather in May is rare. In fact we failed to drop below 40º on any of May's 31 days. Just nine days had lows below 50º and 3 days managed stay above 60º all night long. The warmest over night low a summer-like 62º on the 15th. Five overnight lows were daily records for warm minimums. Despite several warm afternoons above 85º only two of those were daily records, the third daily record fell on the 20th with a mild 79.6º temp. That remains as one of only two days in May with local records under 80º. The warmest afternoon was a 90.8º mark on May 13th no where near the all time May record of over 95º. With all that warm weather you might think there wasn't a chilly day, but there was. The coolest evening low came on the 9th with a crisp 42.9º and three afternoons failed to reach 60º the chilliest of which was May 4th at 56.7º. Monthly averages were well above my 22 year average with mornings coming in at 52.8º nearly 4º above normal and daily high averaged out to almost 74º a full 6º above normal. Yikes, it really didn't feel that warm.
Rainfall was pitifully low coming in about a third of typical for May. A very July like 1.14 inches in the bucket, but there were thunderstorms around and some local areas got drenched. Even with those isolated downpours it was a dry May. More than half the monthly total came on one day, with 0.61 inch on the 5th. A total of just four days with measurable precipitation all of it in the first half of the month.
June is starting out like May ended with coastal clouds moving in mid morning and burning off around noon. Temps in the comfortable upper 60s and low 70s. That's fine by me, I'll take that all month long :)
Soak it up my friends, soak it up.
Starting with the the temps, April was chilly by day and about average by night. The coldest morning low was a 32.9º mark on the 12th a day that saw an inch of sticking snow. The coldest afternoon high was a January like 42.3 and the coldest afternoon high I have ever recorded in April. There were two daily low max temps records last month along with 7 days that failed to reach 50º. The month stayed above freezing but delivered 11 days with low temps below 40º.
March gave me my first 60º day of the year and April as expected delivered the first 70º day with a nice 74.8º mark on the 26th. That is pretty late for the first 70º+ day. It was the first 70º day since October 16th which was also the last time we saw an 80º day. April delivered pair of eighties on the 28th and 29th with 87.1º and 84.3º respectively both of which were daily high records. No where near the all time April record of 91º. Four days above 70º and eight days above 60º. On the evening side there was also a daily record warm overnight low with 57.7º on the 29th following that crispy 87.1º high on the 28th.
As for precipitation, I did record the latest sticking snowfall ever, besting last years record of April 11th with an inch that fell the morning of the 12th. It stuck around for part of the day but was gone before sunset. Other than a brief tenth of an inch that stuck for about 10 minutes on the 3rd, that was it for frozen perception. There were a few days with wintry mix that didn't stick. Rainfall was plentiful so I'll assume those April showers will deliver lots of May flowers this month. I recorded more than 6 inches of rain compared to my average of 4.24 inches. 19 days with measurable precipitation is bit heavy for April, even in the soggy Northwest. 8 of those days saw a 1/4 inch or more but I didn't receive more than an inch on any one day. The wettest day got close with 0.95 inch on the 11th.
April was wild on the weather side and its leaving me wondering what May will bring.
On the temperature side of things the month had just two days with morning lows below freezing with one daily record low of 29.7º on the 16th which was the coldest temp of the month. No where near my all time low for March at 19.4º. 27 days had morning lows under 40º which is a tad cool for March. The warmest overnight temp was 44.3º on the 19th.
Daytime highs really felt more like January with 18 days that failed to reach 50º and two that couldn't even muster 40º. There were four daily records for cold maximum temps. The chilliest was a high temp of 39º on the 12th. There were four days that managed to get above 60º with the warmest afternoon coming on the 18th with 66.1º.
The real story was precipitation. Despite very close to normal rainfall and snowfall, March felt wet and wild. 5.34 inches of rain came down just a few tenths shy of typical for March. The frozen variety was a typical 0.60 inch a tad shy of normal. The only sticking snow fell over the 7th and 8th with about 1/2 inch on the ground on the 8th. The wettest day was the 14th when 1.18 inches fell which was one of 8 days with more than 1/4 inch of rain. March was uncharacteristically cloudy and damp with 22 days of measurable precipitation and just four sunny days. We were definitely living up to our reputation as a cloudy and soggy area.
April is starting out like March ended with mixed winter precipitation, cool temps and very low snow levels. The local weather experts are predicting a warm up of spring appropriate temps starting next week with some forecasts showing upper 70s by the end of next week. We shall see about that ;)
As the title at least in part suggests, we had some snow in February and not just a typical Western Washington dusting. The month was notably cooler than my 22 year average with daytime highs averaging 46.1º nearly three below normal, and morning lows averaging 32.5º which is two and a half degrees cooler than normal. The month was pretty dry as far as water content is concerned.
Temps ranged from a high of 54.8º on the 9th to a low of 14.3º on the 2nd which was a 22 year all time low for February edging out the previous record by a mere two tenths of a degree. Now these are my records for my 22 years of reporting from this site, Vancouver's all time record low for February came in 1950 with a reading of -2º so we were no where near that. The chilliest afternoon high arrived on the 23rd with 31.3º which was also a 22 year record daily at this location. Three daily record lows fell last month and two daily record low max temps as well. February delivered eight days with temps above 50º and four days that failed to reach 40º. A dozen days dipped below the freezing mark overnight but only one day failed to rise above freezing. The warmest overnight low arrived on the morning of the 20th when the mercury only dipped to 43.8º.
On the precipitation side of weather, February was actually a bit boring. There were just 4 sunny days the whole month and 14 rainy/snowy days. The wettest day was mere 0.29 inch on the 27th, which was one of just 3 days measuring more than 1/4 inch. The total water content was only a third of normal with 2.06 inches. There were six days with winter precipitation falling mostly as snow with the snowiest day being the 22nd when I measured 5 inches. The month of February ended up with 7.5 inches of snow.
Temperatures ranged from a chilly 13.4º on the morning of the 30th to a balmy afternoon high on the 8th of 52.6º. The warmest overnight low arrived on the 13th with 47.3º and the chilliest afternoon high arrived on the 29th with 38.1º. Obviously we managed to get above freezing on every single day in January 2023. We only had 4 days with temperatures below freezing and just the one day under 20º so really a rather uneventful temperature range. The 13.4º low on the 30th was not quite enough to break my local 21 year record for the day which was 13.3º and that is the coldest January day since I started keeping my records, so that was almost a monthly record low :) I did have a local 21 year daily record high last month recorded on the 9th with 51.2º. Another odd record was the high on 29th of 38.1º just barely edged out the previous record low maximum temp.
January delivered a whopping 8 days with highs above 50º and only 3 days that failed to reach 40º. There were 11 days with overnight lows above 40º. The month delivered 21 rainy days against just 2 sunny days and the wettest day was a modest 0.51 inch on the 12th which was one of 7 days producing a 1/4 inch or more. Total rainfall was well below average with just 4.29 inches landing in my bucket. The only snow came in flurries of snow and graupel on the 23rd sticking only for a short while.
February can be a mixed bag as normal temps tend to float in the 50s by day and upper 30s by night. But deep freezes can happen as well as heavy snow, we shall see.
Temperatures started out pretty normal with lows right around freezing and highs in the upper 30s and low 40s. But starting mid-month we saw some chilly morning lows in the teens. Four daily record morning lows were recorded on the 17th and the 21st-23rd. They were 18.5º, 19.8º, 17.4º, and 21.9º respectively. None of these were the coldest of the year however that came back in February with a mark of 14.8º. I also recorded to daily record minimum high temperatures on the 22nd and 23rd with 27.5º and 27.1º respectively, the latter being the chilliest afternoon high of the year. What followed those chilly days was a warm and wet front that rolled through bringing some unseasonably warm air in to the region. On the 27th and 30th I recorded both daily record highs and daily record high minimum temperatures of 44.1º L and 56º H on the 27th and 40.7º L and 54.1º H on the 30th. The 27th had the warmest overnight low and the warmest daytime high of the month.
December yielded 11 sub freezing mornings and 2 days that failed to get above freezing at all. There were 5 days that did not drop below 40º overnight and 9 days that failed to reach 40º at all.
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| About an inch of ice accumulated on 12/23/22 |
The year in review:
2022 was marked with a mild first quarter followed by a surprise April snowstorm that dropped 4 inches of snow over two days. A fairly typical coolish spring followed by a pretty darn average summer. The Autumn was very atypical with October producing California like warmth and breaking several records. December brought the potpourri of weather wet and wild with some snow and the second worst ice storm I have recorded, the biggest ice event came in Jan of 2004. Below are some statistics for the year.
