Old Man Winter is Poking at Miss Spring

March has been on the chilly side thus far. It seems winter is not quite ready to let go nor pass the baton to Spring. There hasn't been any winter precipitation down in the lowlands but we have been dancing on edge with overnight lows in the 30s and daytime highs mostly in the 40s. Snow levels have remained down around 2000 feet and the snow is piling high in Cascades.

Today should mark a bit a warmer transition as the jet stream is riding up high allowing for some mild conditions to settle in for a bit. We might get to play with some spring 60s here tomorrow. Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and I have only had one March in 15 years of record keeping that had any significant snow accumulations after that day. Of course back in 2001 there was 1.6 inches that fell on St. Paddy's day and then in 2012 the snowiest March I have ever had at this location I had 3 inches on the ground on March 22nd. So we are by no means out of winter's grasp, but it is highly unlikely we will see any more sticking snow this season.

We had a second year in a row with sub-par snowfall down in valleys. I know that makes a lot of people quite happy. I like some snow in the winter personally so a paltry 2 inches is a bit weak sauce for this weather observer, but that's all we've had this season.

Here is the data for my snowy March in 2012.

Date           Snow    Depth

1-Mar	2.50	2.50
2-Mar		0.10
3-Mar
4-Mar
5-Mar
6-Mar
7-Mar
8-Mar
9-Mar
10-Mar
11-Mar
12-Mar
13-Mar	2.00	2.00
14-Mar
15-Mar
16-Mar
17-Mar
18-Mar	0.10
19-Mar	0.25	0.25
20-Mar
21-Mar	1.00	1.00
22-Mar	2.00	3.00
23-Mar		0.50
24-Mar		0.01
25-Mar
26-Mar
27-Mar
28-Mar
29-Mar
30-Mar
31-Mar

It's Snowing Outside!

April Fools!

It is definitely not snowing outside today nor in fact has it snowed at all this year! Frozen precipitation this time of year tends to arrive in form of hail from thunderstorms. We had some of that over the last few days for sure and more will likely arrive locally today.

March is in the books and it was a bit of a roller coaster ride which is par for the course in what is generally the most tumultuous month of the year.

The mighty month of March delivered to us out first 70 degree temperature of the year and the first since October 17th. That glorious 71.9 was the first and only 70 thus far and it came on the 27th. But March was not shy about playing in the sixties as that happened 17 times! This was overall a balmy little March with an average high of 61.35 degrees nearly 7 degrees above my 13 year average! As is true with most late winter early spring transitions, there was some chilly temps as well. I observed a slightly warmer than normal average overnight low of 40.58 and 1.5 degrees higher than typical. The chilliest night came early in the month, no surprise there. A 27.3 degree low on the 4th was one of only 4 subfreezing days and only 2 in the 20s. The warmest minimum temperature came on the 14th when the coldest it got was toasty 51.4 and the chilliest afternoon was also a balmy 53.7. This is the first March I have recorded in 13 years at this location where all 31 days broke the fifty degree mark.

Precipitation was a little on the light side with 4.86 inches in the bucket against my average for March of 5.52. There was no frozen precipitation aside from a few bouts of hail from highly localized thunderstorms. In fact, nearly half of the precipitation fell on just two days, the 14th and 15th where 1.35 inches came on 14th followed by .90 inches the next day. March was kind enough to deliver 14 sunny days and just 11 with rain.

Looking forward to the rest of the week should be mostly showery with isolated thunderstorms. April is here and the big question is: will she deliver us our first 80 degree mark? we shall see; in the mean time, get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up.

March is Gone, Hello April

The Merry Month of March is in the books and the only real madness we had was the kind we like... in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. This March can be summed up in a word; "wet".

The rain bucket soaked up seven and a half inches of wild and wet precipitation. There were thunderstorms and some hail but nary a flake of snow down here in the city. The wettest day was the 5th with a whooping 1.14 inches coming down. There were 12 days with more than a quarter inch of rain and 20 days with measurable precipitation.

Temps for last month were pretty typical for March. Average lows at 39.13 which is a touch warm and daily highs averaging 56.06 two degree above average. The chilliest low was a nippy 29.1 on March 22nd and the warmest mark a sunshiny 71.4 which occurred on the 24th. That was the first 70 mark since October 22nd, and it felt GREAT. The first day of March managed a high of only 42.6 and that was the chilliest high temp of the month. On the 9th the mercury stayed above 50 with a low temp of 50.5 that was the warmest low of the month. The entire month only yielded 4 days with a subfreezing mark and 8 days with the high temperature reaching at least 60 degrees.

Other than the soggy otter effect of 7.47 inches of rain, March was pretty nice. April is allot like March just a tad warmer as we move away from the clutches of winter and into the fickle spring.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.  

OH Gloriously Warm Rays, Beam Down Your Sunny Goodness

Today was another fantastic March day. Oh how March loves to suck us in with these warm sun filled days. It was a nippy 31 degrees under clear skies and a frosty blanket. Early in March, the good Lord likes to remind us that it is still technically winter.

But this afternoon the mercury soared well into the 60s with my station reporting a balmy 63.9 degrees just a little earlier.

March loves to tease and this March is no different. The forecast from the NWS shows a typical pattern and that this glorious sunshine will go away again yielding to our necessary rain showers.

March is month of sun and rain and sometimes even a little snow. What will this March bring us between now and the Equinox? Yes, the Vernal Equinox is less than 10 days away. The daylight hours stretch on longer and the warmer temps have brought my lawn out of its winter slumber. I need to prep the mower for its first outing of the season. Ah, springtime in the 'Couv' is coming soon. Soak it up my friends, soak it up :)

It's Snowtime... maybe.

How's that for a "grab ya" headline? This weekend the NWS has a winter weather special statement up for low elevation snow. This is not anything like the big event earlier this month. In fact this is likely to be a non-event. However, there is some cold arctic air in the nation's interior that the NWS says will "retrograde" back towards the West Coast and that coupled with moisture headed in could mean flurries of light snow showers here in the city. Confidence for metro area snow under 500 feet is still low however so worry not.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.