Persistent Cold into its 11th Day

The last 11 days has seen some chilly weather including some bitter cold weather, with some snow and ice, along with a very atypical persistence of the cold weather. On Tuesday January 9th a cold system came in a dropped about an inch of snow here any my house. I sit at 300 feet above sea level and it seems like areas at sea level barely got any snow at all. That snow stayed on the ground for a day or two then mostly melted away. On Friday the 12th a mass of arctic air that was anticipated rolled inform the north. At about the same time a system was coming in off the coast. Friday was cold and cloudy all day and into the evening with temps dropping down to around 15º and staying there all day Saturday. Then the moisture arrived and that lead to several hours of often heavy snow. I ended up with 4.5 inches on the ground of very dry snow. With the arctic air firmly in place all of that snow layer on the ground through Tuesday night when a warm front came in from the south west. This storm came over the top of all that entrenched cold air that continued to be fed with more cold air through the Columbia River Gorge. Thus sleet and freezing rain hit us Tuesday night. By yesterday the freezing temperatures were gone but that dry snow has been able to soak up all the water coming in from the rain. I still have 2.5 inches of last Saturday's snow sitting on the ground.  

It looks like we could see 40º today and with a little help from the sun should she choose to make an appearance, this snow and ice should retire. This storm  had all the weather models arguing with each other and local weather officials were rather baffled by it. Here is a report of the events leading to and during this winter event. The 13th is a little misleading as that high temp came at 12:01 AM and steadily fell until it hit 15º and stayed flat until after midnight when it bottomed out the morning the 14th. The lows produced by this arctic air were not really that remarkable. We routinely see lows int he teens during cold air outbreaks. But those are typically clear and cold conditions not cloudy and snowy. Having daytime highs in the teens is downright rare around here. 

As I wrap this report up the sun is trying to peek out so the slushy mess that is our neighborhood streets is likely to meet its end today or tomorrow. The outlook for this upcoming week is rain showers with highs in the upper 40s and low 50's a distinct possibility. Overnight lows are expected to remain mostly above freezing.