April Warmer and Drier than Average

April is in the books and it was a couple of degrees warmer on both ends of the daily observations. I had a mere 1.81 inches of rain in the bucket, no snowfall, and frankly a nice April.

I am a bit nervous about the rainfall totals as we started off with a wet January but are now again trending down. I'm running at -6.34 inches for the calendar year thus far.

Temps were surprisingly flat for April which is a month that typically rides the spring roller coaster. There was one classic spring 'coaster' moment following the monthly high of the warmest day; a beautiful 75.1° on the 17th under lovely sunshine, the 18th had a high of just 53° at 22.1° plunge. The coolest daytime high was a chilly but not cold for April 47.2° on the first of the month. The coldest morning low arrived on the 13th with a cool 35.1°. Outlying areas saw frost. The warmest overnight low was a moderate 51.2° on the 29th. April gave us 20 days at 60° or better, 3 days failed to hit 50°, and we had 4 days at 70° or more.

The rain bucket wasn't busy last month with just 8 days of rain against 11 days of sunshine. Just 4 days saw a quarter inch or more rain. The wettest day was the 5th of April with a 1/2 inch of rain. I'm a bit nervous about the mountain snow pack. Silver Star Mountain (4364') has barely any snow at all and that suggests that mid-elevation snow is well below average.

That snow pack provides ample water through the dry season for both hydro-electric power generation as well as keeping it green through mid-summer. Green is good as it helps shorten the fire season and keeps things extra pretty during our glorious summer. Higher up int he mountain Timberline at 5900 feet is reporting 128" of snow pack which may seem like a lot but not really.

I posted the final snow fall report on the website here. Snowfall in May is highly unlikely so my official 2019-2020 snow season is well below average at 5 inches. That said mountain snow can and routinely does fall in May and even June so there is still hope to pad those pack numbers before summer.

Warm Winter Lead to Cold Spring ? !

January 2020 was one of the warmest on record round these parts but Winter was apparently napping and woke up when spring was tapping on his shoulder. March was nippy to say the least and even brought more snow than the rest of the winter combined.

Now this past March wasn't the coldest I'v seen and certainly no records were ever in jeopardy. But it was a chilly March that managed to deliver three inches of snow which surprisingly was more than any of the "winter" months this season. Yes technically March 20 is the end of winter but most of the weather guys start doing the 'spring thing' on March 1.

Temps were a couple of degrees cooler top to bottom on average last month and rainfall was below average.

Temps rode the roller coaster like we expect in March with a balmy 65.8° on the 20th that was one of three days to punch through the 60 barrier. It is not at all uncommon to get a seventy or two in March, no such luck at my station this year. The chilliest afternoon high was a nippy 38.7° on the 14th which was accompanied by 3 inches of fluffy white snow. The coldest morning came on the 17th at 30.7°. The warmest overnight temp was the 46.7° mark on the 29th.

Wet precipitation was scarce for March producing only 3.74 inches of rain well below my typical 5.52 inches. Snowfall was above average for March but snow is not exactly a thing for us in March the total for the month just a tad above 3 inches which is more than triple the "normal" for March. In fact snow is rare enough in March that the 3 inches that fell made it the second snowiest March in my 19 snow seasons at this location. The record was a whopping 7.85 inches in March 2012. It also was enough to measurably move my 19 year average from 0.82 inch all the way to 0.94 inch.

Well enough about frozen precip, the wet form came in a typical constant series showers with the wettest day producing a mere .55 inch which was also the snowy day so the "wettest" really was the 29th when some t-storms dropped 0.31 inch of rain. Only 7 days saw more than a quarter inch and a total of 19 days with precipitation. Aside from the extra snow, this was actually a typical March now that I really ponder it :)

April has started off a bit chilly but this could be the month we turn the corner into "real" spring. Snow levels are still sagging down under 2000 feet which is pretty low for APRIL.

I wouldn't mind seeing some temps later in the month tickle the 80° mark so we can punch that corona virus in the face. I don't know if warm weather helps, but I guess we shall see and some nice summer like weather might cheer everyone up a bit :)

I normally tell you to soak it up, but maybe staying inside a wee bit longer is wise advice.   

Warm and Sopping Wet Start to a New Decade!

The real "news" about January 2020 as far as local weather was the rain. Yes, winter in the Northwest tends to be a bit drippy, but we outdid ourselves last month with a solid bucket of rain nearly 9 inches deep. But soggy conditions were not the only story. It was downright balmy at times with pineapple express conditions. I had a few personal record highs and even a couple of record warm low temps!

All of this sub-tropical warm and wet was even countered with a little bit of winter in the form of a couple of weak snow producing systems that passed through mid-month. What a weather month!

Keeping with my monthly reporting tradition I'll start with temps for January. Overall the month was relatively warm, seriously warm. The average overnight low was 6° above my established normal and daytime highs averaged nearly 4 above. The warmest daytime high temp arrived on the 31st when my merc hit 59.2°, other areas around the metro were above 60°. That was one of 11 days that managed to break into the 50's and one of 4 days to set local daily record highs last month. The warmest overnight low came on the 31st as well when the mercury barely dipped below 50 with a 49.8° mark that is a daily record warm minimum temp for me. It was one of 7, yes SEVEN daily record warm minimum temps last month! On the cold side of the equation there wasn't much to talk about and no daily record lows or record cold highs were even remotely challenged. The coldest morning came on the 15th with a 30.9° mark, yeah, above 30 degrees for the coldest temp in JANUARY! That was one of only 2 days below freezing all month long. This is also only the third time I have recorded a January with a coldest low above 30°. The coldest daytime high arrived on the 13th when the merc topped out at 37.9° and wintry mixed precip was about. I can't overstate this rather warm January. 17 days had low temps above 40°. This has been the warmest 'mean temp' January I have had dating to 2002. In fairness, when you see the precipitation results below you understand why that happened.   

Before I mention the precipitation totals, it should be noted that the wettest months of the year in this area are typically November and December. Those two months average at my house close to 8 inches each. January and February are wet, but typically average closer to 7 inches. January 2020 manages to put 8.94 inches in the bucket, not a record, but genuinely wet. January 2020 was my second wettest January dating to 2006 when I had 11.43 inches in the bucket and narrowly edging out January 2008 when 8.93 inches fell.

The incriminating factor was the fact that I measured precipitation on every single day in January. Officially I had 29 rainy days because I don't consider less than 0.04 inch of rain as "rainy." It is also notable that I did not record a single sunny day. Yes a few times the sun cracked through for a couple hours, but the whole month was all about those Northwest clouds and their innate ability to trap warm air at the surface. I measured 15 days with a 1/4 inch or more or rain, 4 days above a 1/2 inch and two of those were over one inch. The rest of the month was a seemingly relentless drip from above. The wettest day came on the 25th when I measured 1.25 inch of rain. Snowfall was below average for January but snowfall in this area is a bit fickle. I had 6 days with snow in the breeze but only two of those produced any sticking snow and both of those events were light and short lived. The most sticking snow I received was about 0.75 inch that lay on the ground on the 17th and was all but deceased by lunchtime. That whole period from about the 12th through the 17th was a "snow warning" that really never materialized below 500 feet of elevation and really was limited to high elevations above 1000 feet. I did receive a total of 1.29 inch of snow but of that only 1.25 inch stuck on the ground.

Looking ahead to this month we were rather toasty warm last night when at 12:01 AM my thermometer was at 59.2° following yesterdays high at 11:59 PM. The temp started falling overnight and continues falling to this moment where I now stand at 47.7°. The NWS seems to think that cold air will infiltrate our region over the next two days and snowflakes may start flying again tomorrow. We shall see. February is typically our transition away from wintry weather but it is no stranger to heavy snow and locals may recall that three of the last six Februaries brought significant snowfall and led all months those years in snow totals. For me at my station, February 2014 had 11.10 inches, February 2018 had 8.50 inches, and last February had 7.50 inches. You never know when it's gonna snow. If February passes without any snow, March is also no stranger to wintry weather, but I have only had one March that had a lot of snow and that was in 2012 when 7.85 inches fell. In short, it is still winter and very well may continue to be winter for the next 4-8 weeks. Only time will tell.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

March Madness is not just for Hoops

What a crazy weather ride March 2019 gave us here in America's Vancouver. The coldest morning temp of the year arrived in MARCH. What? Yes a pair of back to back sub 20° mornings in fact one of which was low enough to lead the year, yikes. We had it all in March in fact the very first 60°, the very first 70° and the coldest day too. Crazy, we had some snow, some rain, some sunshine, wind, sleet, hail, lightning. It was truly a cornucopia of weather events.

Look at that chart! The first week of the month could have been a random January week. On March 6th the daytime high was only 34.9° for heaven's sake. The only real downside other than a bit chillier than average was the pitiful rainfall totals of just 1.26 inches for the whole month! That is desert dry my friends. We need some rain, seriously we should be around 18 inches thus far and I only have 7 inches in the bucket.

The temps were chilly the first half of the month and then almost on queue, springtime arrived right about St. Patrick's Day! I recorded nine days with temps below freezing which is a lot for March. 2 days dipped below 20° which is crazy for the third month. The coldest temp was a 19.4° mark on the morning of the 5th. The chilliest daytime high was the aforementioned 34.9 occurring on the 6th of the month along with a light dusting of snow. Things started looking up on the 15th when I recorded the first 60° mark of the year and two days later the first 70° arrived. March gave us a bunch of January weather, but also managed to spit out 11 days above 60° and four above 70° The warmest temp was recorded on the 20th the first day of spring, when the merc went to 74.1° The warmest overnight low came on the 21st at 49.5° The averages for the month were colder overnight and warmer by day.

On the wet side of things it was, well it wasn't actually. The previously referred number of 1.26 inches is dry, dry, and dry. The wettest day a damp but not soaking wet 0.45 inches and that was one of only two days to produce more than a quarter inch of rain. The snowfall was light with sticking snow on one day only about a half inch with only half of it staying on the ground for any length of time. The second snowfall was flurries only nothing stuck. Just 6 days with measurable rainfall in March and that is nuts.

April is here and with it the chance of any winter weather is down into the low single digit percentages. Spring has sprung, the flowers are in bloom and the weather will start down the long path towards summer. There is still a substantial amount of snow lingering on the foothills up in the 2000 foot range and that means there is a strong probability of frost for the next several weeks. Be mindful gardeners!

So don't forget to get outside and soak up the springtime, yes soak it up my friends, soak it up.

January was Late this Year!

Last month was actually February, we all know that, well all of us except 'Old Man Winter'. February 2019 was the coldest I have on record, yet it did not have any real cold weather. It played out a lot like a typical January even slighter cooler than average for that month.

February started out looking very February-ish with the first two days the warmest of the month the 51.6° mark on the 2nd would stand as the ONLY temperature at or above fifty all month. I have had a few arctic outbreaks over the years in February, but this wasn't really that. The coldest morning came in at 19.9° on the 7th which is chilly for February but not anywhere near my 18 year low for February which stands at 14.7° nor close to the all time record of -2°. Every day managed to get above freezing so my 18 year low maximum temp for the month was never even remotely in jeopardy as that stands at a nippy 22.2°.

Last month wasn't really about extremes at all. It was just chilly all month long. In fact all but one night dropped below 40°,  16 days fell below freezing,  and 11 days failed to reach 40° at all. We had no signs of spring, just a lingering chilliness that never ventured too far towards "cold" but other than the 2nd day of the month, never got anywhere near "warm" either. It was the third snowiest February of my 18 years of records, but February has been the snow-maker over the last 5 years actually.

On the mercury side of the stats, the other notable temps were the warmest overnight low of 43° on the 2nd which lead to that solo 50 plus later that day. That was also the only day that stayed above 40° all day and night. The chilliest afternoon was the 35.4° recorded for the 5th. That featured flurries all day long that managed to accumulate to about one inch.

On the precipitation side of things, this is the month that could have been the snowiest February on my records and even had the potential for an all time record. But two things happened ever so slightly that kept that from happening. The first snow-making system that came through was very light just an inch, then the second system came through that delivered more than 5 inches and could have been huge, except the storm tracked north. This was one of those counter-clockwise rotation deals and Seattle got the brunt of it. A near miss for us. The third system came through and just clipped us providing little more than flurries with almost no accumulation. That storm hit Eugene Oregon 100 miles to the south head on dumping 6-12 inches on that area. Another near miss for us. We very easily could have had a 18-24 inch snow month, but alas, we did not. February 2019 will have to settle for the Bronze. We did have some rain including 4 days with more than a quarter inch the most came on the 12th when nearly an inch fell at 0.91 inch. 

February delivered 7.5 inches of snow which is almost all the snow for the whole season. We shall see what March brings. March can go either way round these parts so I wouldn't count winter out yet. Today is bright sunshine and bold blue sky which should persist over the next few days. The coldish air remains in place for now however, and that means spring may have to wait.   

First Month of Year rather dull

Welcome to 2019! The first month of the year came in about 1-3 up over "normal" on both ends of the day. I had no real snow just a flurry or two on the 6th. Snowfall has been at a severe premium this season.Precipitation in general has been running well below established norms. 

This opening month to 2019 was pretty uneventful. No deep freeze, no major run dump, no snow other than a little flurry, no record breaking warmth, nothing really. Just 11 days with morning lows below freezing, but everyday managed to get above freezing. The mercury just stayed between 27° and 56° all month.

January 2019 saw the coldest temperature at a modest 27.3° on the morning of New Year's Day, one of those aforementioned 11 sub freezing mornings. Every single day last month managed to bust up over 40° with the chilliest daytime high a 40.6° mark that came on the 26th. On the warmer side of the spectrum we managed to see 11 days with the mercury topping out above 50° the warmest of which was a toasty 56.1° on the 23rd. Not a single night stayed above 50° the warmest overnight low was the 47.3° that occurred on the 23rd, not surprisingly the same day as the warmest high. January gave us 14 days with sunshine and just 10 days with rain, and technically one day with snow, but it was just a flurry and nothing stuck.

Precipitation was dry, again. We really need some rainfall and snow pack this year, holy cow. There were only 5 days last month that managed to spill more than a 1/4 inch of rain and the most came on the 18th with 0.65 inch. The 6th had a light and brief snow flurry I unofficially estimated at a 0.10 inch equivalent. Just 2.53 inches in the rain bucket which is less than half my 17 year average for January.

It is weird looking up at Silver Star in January and seeing such a light spattering of snow. This weekend starting on Super Bowl Sunday things might just whiten up a bit all the way down to the valley floors. If not to the valley, certainly below 1000 feet and that means the foothills will look proper again for this time of year. Ski resorts in the Cascades will certainly welcome more snowfall it has been dismal this season thus far.

The local weather prognosticators don't seem to know how big a shot we will get of colder arctic air. Most of the computer models seem to suggest it will be a mild shot thus the iffy stance on valley snow. One thing for sure is that we should see significant accumulations up higher in the 1000 foot plus areas. Right now it is raining and snow levels are pretty high like 5000 feet! Those levels will plunge as the weekend progresses. So it seems that winter may arrive late this year, we shall see.

Whatever the weather soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Last Month of the Year! Happy Holidays.

Well that was a rather uneventful November. November is typically one of two very wet months in the Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon climate, yet this year November was a little on the dry side. November is usually the month I record my first hard freeze, and that did happen, despite the overall warmer than average temps.


The 11th month yielded a few notable events. The warmest day was the very first day of the month when the merc shot up to 64.9°. Both the first and second days of November were the warmest temps on those days, I have recorded at this location, however the all time records were not in jeopardy.  The warmest overnight low of a balmy 55.9°, arrived on the morning of the 1st and likely contributed to that day being the warmest of month.

On the cold side of the thermometer, the chilliest temps was a 28.2° morning on the 11th, not cold enough to beat my daily low record but the 29.5° morning on the 19th did set my local daily low record. The coolest afternoon high was a 44.6° day on the 12th hardly any threat to a record there.

Overall last month delivered 5 subfreezing mornings, 14 mornings under 40°, 12 days above 50°, 10 days with sunshine, 9 rainy days, and no snow or ice aside from a few brief flakes mixing in with rain.

Now that rain was mentioned, only 3.2 inches landed in the bucket less than half my typical 7.98 inches. The soggiest day came on the 22nd when 2/3 of an inch fell one of only three days above 1/2 inch and six days at 1/4 inch or more.

Is this a precursor of the rainy season to come? Who knows? The science guys are still trying to determine if El Niño will settle in at all and if so how strong. El Niño tends to send a sizable chunk of our rain further south towards Northern California, good for them, not so much for us. These weather years can still bring cold winter weather down tot he valley floors but in general temps are a bit warmer than average under these conditions. Only time will tell for sure, but this wet season has started out a little dry.

December is here and with it the question about holiday snow. Here at my low elevation of just 267 feet, I have had just two Christmas Snow events with an inch or more of snow on the ground on Christmas Day. December 24th-25th, 2008 I had 2.25 and 2.0 inches of fresh snow respectively landing on top of a foot that was already on the ground. Then last Christmas out of nowhere came a dusting of 2 inches on Christmas Eve, followed by a few more flakes on Christmas Day. Ho, Ho, Ho, Christmas snow!

Odds are of course that it will be a green Christmas since snow events are not real common to begin with and then asking to have them randomly occur on Christmas is bit much to expect. Above 1000 feet the odds improve significantly and at 2000 feet it's almost a given.

May you holidays be filled with joy... and whether your Christmas be white or green, frosty or wet, be sure to soak it up, my friends, soak it up.

Cool March Breezes Through the 'Couv'

Another month is in the books and March was on the cool side by nearly every measure. This winter season was a fickle one for sure. December was seasonably chilly with some snow on Christmas. It was followed by a downright warm January which in turn was followed by a rather snowy February and a seasonable  March.

This past March was a bit chillier by night but spot on average by day. It was drier than average as well. Temps ranged from a low of 28.8° to a high of 69.8° these days coming on the 6th and 12th respectively. 2018 in Vancouver, WA remains without a 70° mark but some local areas did breech that barrier on the 11th and or 12th. The warmest overnight low was a 46° that arrived on the 13th; no surprise it followed the warmest day. The chilliest day time high came on the 24th with a winter-like 42.8° that cool afternoon followed a brief bout of snow in the morning. Overall the month of March was about 2° cooler than average by night and spot on by day. We saw five days with temperatures that fell below freezing overnight and two days which failed to get above 45°.

The rain gauge was certainly not overworked in March of 2018. I saw 2.89 inches which is well below my local 17 season average for March which is, 5.52 inches. The soggiest day arrived on the 17th with some scattered thunderstorms dropping a mere 0.55 inches. This was one of only five days over a quarter inch of precipitation.

The tiny and rather fleeting bout of snowfall in the early morning on the 24th produced just a skimpy quarter inch dusting but it was enough to push the winter of 2017-18 into 6th snowiest season since I've been keeping records (2001-02). At this point it is unlikely any more measurable snow will fall this season, I have however had snow well into April, just not much and not at all often. The 2017-18 winter season will likely end where it is now with 10.95 inches of snowfall that was distributed across ten days, lying on the ground for 16 days, with a maximum depth of 3 inches.

April is probably going to deliver the first 70° temp of the year, but I'll remind you all that sometimes it takes all the way until May for that magic mark to occur. In the meantime as we wait for the 'real' spring to arrive let's just revel in the springtime, the flowers, the warmer temps Yes, soak it up my friends, soak it up.

The Big Switcheroo!

Yes friends old man winter pulled a sneaky switcheroo on us this year. January and February seemingly switched positions. January was a warm month even by February standards with several daily highs broken, no snowfall and only a couple of days that dropped below the freezing mark. Kind of like February with wafts of spring. Then the real February showed up and within a few days it became clear the switcheroo was in play.

Although my average daily low temp for last month was still a bit warmer than an average for January it was close to spot on average for February. The average daily high last month was 3 degrees below my 17 season established "normal." The real switcheroo was the snowfall. I had a one inch dusting on the early am of Valentines Day that melted away in the afternoon and then some frisky cool air came in a few days later and I saw an inch on the 18th, a little dusting on the 19th and a bit of an on again off again 4 inch event on the 20th followed by two more days with an inch or more. 8.5 inches of snow in February is WAY above my 17 year average of 1.71 inches. In fact this is only the second February I have ever measured more than 6 inches for the month. 8.5 inches is second only to the crazy 11.1 plus we got back in February 2014.

I did have one daily record low on the 23rd when I awoke to a crisp 21.9 degrees. That was a record for me and for a number of areas around the metro. Early February has seen temps historically below zero with the record for the month at a Minnesota -3° back in 1950; but this late, the 23rd, 21.9° is legit chilly and it turned out to be the coldest temp of the month.

February seemed like a cold one with the above average snowfall, but the heavy cloud cover all month long actually kept things pretty warm, relatively speaking. Average low came in at 35.19° which is spot on my 17 year average and daily high average 46.69° well below my established norms. The warmest night was a toasty 47.8 on the 4th and the coldest daytime high was 33.8° on the 20th and it was accompanied by the 4 inches of snow. That day never had more than 3 inches on the ground as it snowed in two separate events about 2 inches in the morning, followed by mixed precip and some melt off, then another 2 inches later in the day. There were 8 days where the temperature managed to bust out over the top of 50° and we got close to a sixty when it was 58.8° on the 7th. We had seven days where the mercury could not push to 40° That turned out to be the week we had the snow and those low temps kept some snow on the ground for a week. The month ended with 9 days with a low below freezing and the aforementioned 7 days that failed to reach 40°

As for the precipitation it was cloudy but kind of dry really. Sure we had 8.5 inches of snow, but he water total in the bucket came in at only 2.07 inches and that is about a third of a typical February. We had 13 days with rain, 6 days with snow, but the wettest day was a paltry .36 inches. That was one of only three days to dump a 1/4 inch or more. We need more water down here and snow up there!

So March will once again be the wild card. Will it be an early spring or late winter? Today it is a bit of a tease as I am looking out the window to partly cloudy skies with peek-a-boo sunshine and a temp of 46.8° at 11:30am. Who knows, March can go either way. As it stands now this winter season is in a dead heat tie for 6th place on my annual snowfall chart with 2006-07 10.70 inches. Any amount of snow that falls before summer will knock 2006-07 into 7th. Over my 17 seasons of snowfall every February with 5 or more inches of snow has lead to a March with little or none. As it stands now I'd have to give the tie breaker to the 06-07 season as I had 19 days with measurable snow and a whopping 39 days with at least a trace of snow still on the ground. That crushes this season's totals of 9 days with measurable snow and 15 days with a trace or more on the ground. We only need a tickle to bump them, but it's just a silly snow chart, right?

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

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.

Spring is Here, More or Less

The month of March has marched into the the nether. It was pretty typical of March with slightly warmer nights and slightly cooler days. It was well above average for rainfall, a bit light on snow and well shy of expectations regarding sunshine. Seriously the great yellow orb was conspicuous by its absence.

I listed 5 days as sunny but I am pretty generous with what counts as "sunny". I figure that it is sunny enough if 6 hours of the day basks in the golden rays of El Sol. This was one gray march and it spit rain nearly every day. In fact I measured at least a touch of rain on 23 days with 19 having my standard .03 inches as a minimum "rainy day".  

What is really a bit odd about this March was that just ONE day managed to top out above 60 degrees. ONE! That is truly unusual for March. March is a month than can show a wide range of temperatures and usually does. I generally receive the first 70 degree day of the year sometime in March. If you check back to November 1st edition of this blog, you will see that October posted NO 70s and that is usually the last month with such a mark. As it stands now the last 70 degree day was September 28th when the merc busted out a 72.3° Holy Long and Cool, Batman, that's over SIX months with nary a 70 in sight! SIX MONTHS! Half a year! For the record, Chicago had a day that broke 80° last month. Oh and by the way, the last time I had the whole month of March blow by without reaching 70° was March of 2011. Oh wait, there's more... this is a streak of sub-70s that is now the longest I have seen since keeping records here dating to 2002. I stand at 185 days since the last 70° reading. Today is highly unlikely to bust a 70 since it's 1:30 pm right now at I just hit 50 under clouds and showers. The streak continues.

March 2017 had an average daily high of 52.91° down when measured against my "normal" of 54.68°. The average daily low came in at 40.65° up from the typical average of 38.45°. Warmest day a sunny and 60.4° on the 10th. The balmiest overnight temp occurred on the 14th under cloud cover with a 48.2° mark. The chilliest temperature I got at my station was the morning of the 19th when it was 30° under clear skies. The coolest daytime mark for March came on the 6th when the day started with a dusting of snow and then washed out with rain and a high of 43°. So March ended up with just one subfreezing temp and 19 mornings chillier than 40°. Eight days managed to get above 50° and just the one aforementioned sixty plus. March 2017 was really steady on temps all month as opposed to the more common 'battle of the seasons' where there is a cold snap and a heat wave in the same month. This was truly a bland March and it felt much 'cooler' than it was since we were not rewarded with that first warm day of the year.

On the water side of the weather we seem pretty good this season. I added another 7.32 inches in the bucket against a 'normal' of 5.52 inches. This on the heels of a soggy February that yielded 9.41 inches. There was no big storm event that pushed the rain totals up. It was a couple of wet systems and an incessant drip all month long that aided the overflowing rain pail. The only snow was that tiny little dusting of .25 inches that stayed on the ground all of a couple hours before being washed down the drain under a more typical March shower of rain. 23 days of drip and a few days of heavy downpours added up to a soggy and gray March.

April is starting out much like March with showers and relatively cool temps. Here's an April First show out the window. There is that plum tree finally flowered about a month late. There's that wet street we have seen nearly every day since January when it was a snowy street.

This is no fool my friends, Miss Spring is still in Cancun, I think she missed her flight. Come on girl, were ready for some 70s. Seriously, were ready.

 

Broke a Record and Tied Another Today

Coming into today, this winter season was tied as the third snowiest on record since I started keeping snowfall records at this location in the winter of 2001-02. This morning I enjoyed a little dusting of snow. Only about a 1/4 inch stuck to the ground but it was enough to move this 2016-17 winter season alone into 3rd place as a solid bronze medalist. Coming into today this season was tied for the most number of days the Evergreen School District was closed for winter weather at 7 days. This little dusting did not result in any school closures of course so that remains a tie. Today did advance the 2016-17 winter season into a first place tie with the 2008-09 season as most days with measurable snowfall at 24. 2008-09 is the snowiest I have on record at 28.75 inches. We are not even have way to that total this year. I currently have a total of  30 days with at least a trace of snow lying on the ground. The record of 39 days with snow on the ground set back in 2006-07 is pretty safe at this point. That season only had 10.7 inches all year but January of 2007 had snow on the ground nearly every day of the month. I doubt we will get 9 more snow days before the warm rays of spring arrive.

All in all this winter will go down as a notably chilly one. 14.3 inches of snow is hardly a major total but we did the January storm that dumped a lot more snow on the west side than here at my house. Areas west of I-5 in Vancouver saw one day snow totals well over a foot which compares to a mere 7 inches that I got here. So in local lore this winter will carry more weight than others with similar snow totals. The Top three snowiest and epic winters since I started keeping my records are as follows:

1. 2008-09 - 28.75 inches (Christmas Storm)
2. 2003-04 - 22.90 inches (Great Ice Storm)
3. 2016-17 - 14.30 inches (I-5 Blizzard)

There you have my friends records they be broken... soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Coldest January in Years!

We just closed out a chilly January here in the Metro Portland/Vancouver area. We had it all, bitter cold, snow, sleet, freezing rain, regular rain and even a little sunshine just for good measure. The local news in nearby Portland, OR has been reporting that last month was the coldest January on record sine 1979 and the coldest month since 1985. Of note, January 1979 was MUCH colder as sub zero temps were recorded here in the 'Couv' that year.

For those reading this blog from places like Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, laugh it up because our "coldest" is about normal for you guys. For us it was a bona fide chilly month.

Starting with the temperatures, we were well below average. My 16 year average for January is 33.47 low and 44.62 high. Last month I observed an average low of 27.34 and average high of 39.34. That is a whopping 6 under on the low and 5 under on the high! Most of this was driven by a very cold first two weeks and then a typical last two weeks. Unlike 1979 which was driven by a massive arctic event with the aforementioned sub zero and single digit marks that may have skewed the whole month, this last month was not driven by epic cold but rather an extended cold. I have a several daily record lows based on my 16 years reporting. Here are my daily records for overnight lows, again I only have 16 years of data and most of these lows are not likely all-time daily lows. They are however recent daily lows and to have this many in one month is what is unusual not the actual temps themselves. None of these lows are any where near as cold as the lowest I have recorded in the last 16 years at this location.

• Jan 5th 17.2
• Jan 6th 13.3
• Jan 7th 19.0
• Jan 13th 13.5
• Jan 14th 13.3
• Jan 15th 14.5
• Jan 16th 21.0

I also had a couple of daily highs that were the coldest on record for me at this location but none were anywhere near my all time record cold. Here they are:

• Jan 6th 35.2
• Jan 7th 31.1
• Jan 8th 37.0
• Jan 11th 31.6
• Jan 13th 28.0
• Jan 17th 34.3

Temperatures in the rural areas just outside of Vancouver, such as Brush Prairie, WA saw temperatures plunge into the low single digits. Long after the frozen ponds in the city thawed they remained frozen for weeks in the country. The all-time record low that I have recorded here dating back to 2002 is 8.7 degrees on the 9th of December 2009. The coldest daytime high I recorded here is January 6th 2004 when 20.2 was the warmest temp of the day. These lows fail miserably against the all time lows for Orchards, Washington which is the closet "official" station to me where -11 degrees is the mark to beat. Do to the heavy urbanization of this part of Vancouver since 1950 when that mark was recorded, it is likely to remain in perpetuity.

January 2017 had six days with lows under 20 degrees and 22 days below freezing. There were 5 days in which the mercury was unable to break above freezing and that is above the average for the whole season. The coldest low came on the 6th with 13.3, the warmest overnight low was 38.7 on the 19th. The warmest temp arrived on the same day as the warmest low when we had out lone 50 plus day at 51.3 degrees. The chilliest daytime high was the 13th when 28 under sunny skies was all she had. We can't underestimate the effect of a foot or so of snow on the ground had on the overnight lows. 

January 11th. 2017, Northeast Vancouver

Precipitation was light as far as water content rainfall is concerned but snow was well above average for the month. A typical January yields 7.05 inches of rain and last month garnered just 3.19. It was a very dry and cold air mass and that low water count was offset by 8.05 inches of frozen precipitation at my location. I average about 40 percent more snow than PDX but this last month the snow was heavier along the I-5 corridor than it was at my location. Downtown Vancouver had over a foot on the ground last month. The bulk of my snowfall came over two days when 5 inches and 2 inches hit on the 10th and 11th of the month. The 8 plus inches I recorded is the second most in January since I started measuring in 2002. It does pale against the more than 16 inches that came in January of 2004. It is the 4th snowiest month since 2002 for me and it was well above the 3.3 inches I average in January. This season so far is the 4th snowiest winter I have dating to the 2001-2002 season. I am sitting at 13.85 inches thus far and I still have two potentially snowy months ahead. February and March average for me 1.28 and 0.91 respectively so it is possible that we could knock the number three season out since we just need a 1/4 inch to do it. I have not had ANY snowfall in February since 2014 when I had over 11 inches. I haven't had any sticking snow in March since 2012 when I had a crazy 7.85 inches. My gut says I'll get another 1/2 inch at least before the end of the season so there is a solid chance that this will go down as the 3rd snowiest winter since I started recording data in 2002.

January 12th, Downtown Vancouver

Overall this winter has been the rather chilly by our standards. We are blessed to have a very mild winter despite our northerly latitude of 45.6 degrees. Mind you that is substantially further north than much colder places like Minneapolis, Boston, and even Portland ME. Our close proximity to the Pacific Ocean and the protection of both the Cascades and Rockies from the wicked continental cold keeps us relatively warm. Our winters are rather short all things considered with about six weeks in the fro-zone. 

Here we are in February and the average temps will typically rise steeply. From Mid December to Mid January we are delighted if we get a day that tickles the 50 mark, but in February our average daily high is already approaching 50 degrees. we may not be finished with frozen precipitation but we are headed rapidly towards spring.

Later this week we may see some more snow and ice but it will likely be minor and only serve as a gentle reminder that winter does extend into March; officially at least.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Wintry Winter This Winter Be

This winter of 2016-17 has been in a nutshell, cold. Well relatively that is, I know folks in the North Dakota would be sweating like a hog in June with these temps we have. But this is not North Dakota, is it?

The annual average snowfall at my location over the past 16 seasons has been just about 8.5 inches; yet this winter season nearing the halfway mark, I have already measured 13.75 inches of fluffy white snow. And this is where the "cold" part is, that snow has stayed on the ground now for 22 of the last 45 days. Over my 16 winters at this location my average for the whole season is 14 days with at least a trace of snow on the ground. We are at 22 at the halfway mark. Of course it is entirely possible that no more snow will fall all year. If that happens this current snow will still lie here another 4-7 days before warmer temps and rain can wash it away.

In fact, this new year has yet to produce a temperature above 40 degrees. My year to date warmest high is a cool 37.9 degrees and every day this year has had overnight lows below the freezing mark, including 4 below 15 degrees. Average low so far has been a chilly 22 and the average high just 34 both marks WAY below my 16 year averages of 32 and 42 for the opening 2 weeks of January.

Cold snaps are a normal experience for any winter in this region, but extended periods of cold lasting more than a week are a bit uncommon. Of the 14 days that have passed this year, 4 of them refused to break the freezing barrier and those that did often did so for a only a couple hours or so. According to my hourly readings Starting January 1st at 12:00 AM and continuing till today, January 15th at 12:00 PM, 232 of 348 hours were below freezing. The mean daily temperature this year has been 28.4 degrees which is well below the typical daily mean of 37 this time of year.

The NWS in Portland seems to think that all of this cold air will washout with the series of Pacific storms that are approaching the coast now. They have made similar predictions on two occasions this season in which the cold air was more stubborn than they expected. So tomorrow night when the first of these disturbances move through, we shall see just how entrenched this cold air is. Meanwhile long term forecasts are suggesting more snow could be on the way for next weekend.

After the last two winters that only produced snow on one occasion each and with paltry accumulations, this season is delivering the goods as a wintry winter.

Happy New Year!

Holy cow 2016 is totally gone; it's been completely blown away! 2016 came in with snow and left with snow :) 2016 was otherwise a pretty blah year in weather locally. December was cool and dry with low precipitation numbers but above average in the frozen variety.

December 2016 ended a warmish year on a cold note. I did not set any snowfall records but I did have 12 days of measurable snow/sleet. I did not get anywhere near any cold temperature records, not even my own 15 year mark. But this past month was notably cooler than normal with overnight lows averaging 31.67 about two under and daytime highs averaging 39.85 about three under.

The warmest day was the lone 50 degree day with exactly 50 measured on the 3rd of the month. The coldest mark arrived on the morning of the 16th when the mercury bottomed out at 25.2 degrees. This insured that 2016 would be a full calendar year with nary a temp under 20 degrees. The warmest overnight low came on the morning of the 3rd which not coincidentally would become the warmest day. The chilliest afternoon high was 30.2 degrees on the 15th; one of only 4 days that failed to get above freezing. Overall 15 days failed to make the 40 degree mark.

A typical December at my location nets about 8 inches of precipitation with 2.66 inches of snow. Of course with an average snow total that low, a typical December is any where from no snow to a foot and half. I measured a paltry 2.6 inches of total precipitation but an unusually high amount of snow with 5.8 inches piling up over 12 days. This was not a contiguous event but rather a collection of light snow days with minor accumulations. Only three of the "snow" days offered anything more than scattered flurries. The deepest the snow ever got was a mere 1.5 inches.

The year in weather according to my station was a year of fairly average and lacked any real extremes, anywhere. In all fairness we did record a record amount of rainfall for the month of October when more than 9 inches landed in the bucket. But seriously, the coldest day in the calendar year of 2016 was a relatively warm, 23.5 degrees last January. The hottest day was a hot but nay triple digits, when 99.3 bubbled up in August one of 12 days above 90 degrees which is about normal for us. The rain bucket collected 47 inches and for my location that is close to average but a couple inches shy. I ended up with 140 days of sunny or mostly sunny skies, 158 days with at least .03 in the rain gauge, A near but slightly lower than average snow total of 7.8 inches. 2016 gave us just 35 days with a temperature below freezing which is a bit less than the typical 45 or so. As mentioned above there was not a single day in 2016 the dropped below the really cold mark of 20 degrees. There were only 22 days that couldn't breech the 40 degree mark and the coldest afternoon high was 29.5 degrees in January. I had 15 days with measurable frozen precipitation coming in the form of snow, sleet, and freezing rain. This was a bit more than average but most of it was last month and only 4 days produced any "real snow" in excess of an inch. August was the warmest month with an average high of 82.1 well above the "normal" mark of 79. The coldest month was December with an average high of 39.9. The wettest month was oddly enough, October with a mark on 9.15 inches; the snowiest was December's 5.8 inches. The driest month was August, with just 2 days of rain and a mere .26 inch landing in the can.

Looking forward we are expected to get another blast of arctic air from those ever so friendly Canadians up north. Temperatures this week are expected to drop into the teens over the whole metro area and outlying rural areas will likely see single digits overnight. Daytime highs may linger in the twenties for most of next week. The big question short term is what happens when that fat juicy system out in the Pacific makes landfall next Friday? The experts have been watching all the computer models. Some were showing a big snow event for late next week, but it seems the gang at the Portland office of the National Weather Service has backed off that notion, for now.

Happy New year and here in the Pacific Northwest, bundle up, then get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up!    

Winter Weather will transition to Classic Rain

Rain is washing snow away 10:00 am

Starting all the way back on December 4th when I got the first snowflakes of the season with a series of light flurries to this morning where another 3/4 inch of snow and then ice was deposited on my yard, I have accumulated just over 5 inches of winter precipitation and that is well above my 15 year average of 2.7 inches in December.

The first system brought an inch of wet snow that stayed on the ground for the afternoon but was gone my early evening. The second bout of snow brought me 2 inches of fluffy white snow and howling winds that blew the snow all over until it came to rest on the east side of some immovable barrier like a house or fence. That system had entrenched cold air that kept us chilly and left the snow on the ground for 4 days. Then another blast of arctic air mixed with moisture from the south made way north. The southern half of the metro area got upwards of 5 inches where I got about an inch and a half here in the north. The remnants of that snow and the fresh layer from this morning remain on the ground here on day six but it will be gone by the end of the day. I got 34 degrees showing and it is steady snow eating rain that is falling from the sky.

We are expected to see some locally heavy rain later in the week possibly 2-3 inches and snow levels will rise up above pass levels for a bit before returning to a more typical 2000-3000 feet.  But what of Christmas now just six days on the horizon? Right now the NWS in Portland has us forecast for a cool 38 on Christmas Day the low Christmas morning should be just a tad above freezing. This far out, who knows, a little shift in the atmosphere could drop us back into the snow zone. Statistics do not favor this however.

Let's sit back and soak it all up my friends, soak it up. Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas be it white or green :)

November Soggy and Mild

2016 is taking it's final lap as the month of November is retired to history. November was pretty warm overall and seasonally soggy. I have never recorded a 70 degree mark in the month of November and that is still the case but we did tease it a bit with a 68.4 reading on the 4th of the month.

Between the record wet October and this seasonally typical November I have recorded nearly a foot and a half of rain in the last 60 days!

On the temperature side of the weather, that 68.4 was the warmest and the coldest mark I had was 34.3 degrees on the 18th and that means I still have NOT recorded a subfreezing temperature. I did briefly accumulate some ice on my car's windshield on that very night so I have recorded a frost. This year will be the latest for the first seasonal sub-freezing temperature in the 16 years I have been recording at this locale. In fairness, we haven't had a continuously clear night in a long while. The warmest overnight low came on the 5th when the mercury bottomed out at a balmy 52.5. The coolest afternoon high was a seasonal cool, 45.3 degrees on the 27th. Overall the average observed temperatures were 44.8 and 55.19 against my 16 year "normal" of 38.42 and 50.98. That was a toasty November!

As for precipitation it was seasonally pretty typical. I measured a satisfying 7.67 inches in the bucket against a normal 7.98 inches. Nary a flake of snow fell but that is really not unusual at all for November as the last 16 Novembers have had 9 without any snow, 2 with just a trace, and the remaining 5 having some legit snow ranging from 1-3 inches. The rainiest day came about on the 24th when a monsoonal 2.24 inches fell which was one of two days exceeding an inch and 7 days over a quarter. 21 days saw .03 or more and just two days could be called sunny. Yeah, it was November ;)

The local prognosticators are calling for a mass of chilly air to drop down out of Canada and the Gulf or Alaska next week and snow is in the forecast. Hard to say, some feel it will be limited to 1000 feet and higher but others think that we may get isolated, localized snow showers all the way down to sea level. We shall see, but one thing is for sure, December on average is the coldest month of the year and the second snowiest month of the year behind January. La Niña is supposedly in place and that does mean cooler ocean temperatures and a little less effective marine influence on local snowfall.

If it is gonna snow, isn't December the better month for it anyhow? Ho, Ho, Ho, let's have some snow!

Get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up.

April Roller Coaster

The month of April has moved to the history file and what a roller coaster ride it was. We had a sub-par rain month and fairly average daytime highs save for two monster spikes into the hot, even for July, category.

May will start out with a nice summer-like warm day into the 80s. The week begins with some July love but quickly will turn back to spring showers and some minor t-boomers later in the week.

As for April how about those heat waves. Seriously, a heat wave in April is not unusual but notable, but two heat waves in April, WOW! Daily records were falling like autumn leaves this past month.

The high for the month came on the 18th with a personal all time April mark of 91.6 and that appears to have been the all time April mark for the 'Couv' dating back to the 19th century! That was the only 90 plus mark for the month, of course. That 91.6 came second in a series of four consecutive days above 80 degrees. That was second group of 80 plus days the first group a back to back pair on the 7th and 8th with a near 90 mark of 88.7 on the 7th. 2016 begins rather ominously as last year was a record for 90 plus days in many Greater Portland Metro communities. I had 18 90 'plussers' last year about double my local average. The first of those 18 came in June and this year I have one logged already in April. Oh boy. The warmest overnight low did not follow the hot 91.6 day, but came on the morning of the 20th with a mark of 50.9 degrees.

On the chilly side of the month there isn't much to report. In fact not a single morning was below the ice making mark. The coolest came on the morning of the 16th with a chilly but not at all uncommon 36.3 degrees one of just four mornings that managed to chill into the 30s. Every single day in the month of April was able to warm above the 50 degree comfort mark with the chilliest afternoon the 14th hitting 51.6 degrees.

Overall April 2016 was much warmer than average. the observed average low was a hefty 3.5 degrees above my established norms and the observed highs were a crazy 7 degrees warmer than average thanks to not one, but two heat waves.

Rainfall was well under normal for me with a dry 2.21 inches in the bucket against my more typical 4.24 inches. We had a few days with thunderstorms and some localized heavy rain was present. That should create wide variances in rainfall totals at local weather stations. The rain for the year has been solid with a four month start of 20.58 inches and a season to date (Oct, 2015 to date) of a dripping wet 49.66 inches. Holy soggy soil Batman, that's a whole bunch of water!

There is a heavy layer of snow on the high Cascade peaks but very little remains on the local foothills. In fact there is just one tiny little patch clinging to life on the very tip of Silver Star (4364 ft). There is a good chance that won't survive the next two days. As for late season skiing? It should be solid, Timberline lodge is reporting a May 1st base at the lodge (6000 ft) of 121 inches. Up higher the last Snow Cat data about a month ago reported over 67 FEET of snow depth at Bean's Run (7326 feet).

Let's all shout out a welcome to the merry month of May. There is a high probability that freezing weather is firmly planted in the rear view mirror and that warmer days lie ahead. May is almost as fickle as March and April so we likely won't finish this month without some noteworthy weather bumps, but the gorgeous days of summer now await on the near horizon.

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

January: a tale of Jekyll and Hyde

This glorious new year started off much like its predecessor ended; it was a bit chilly. Nothing record breaking, not even close, but chilly and even a bit snowy. About halfway through the month things began to get warm and wet. Not record breaking wet like December 2015, but a solid eight and a half inches of precipitation managed to find the rain gauge. This translated into gobs of fluffy white powder in the upper elevations and torrents of rushing water down here.

There were enough fifties in January to catch the attention of the marketing people at AARP. Downtown Vancouver and parts of Portland were playing footsie with 60 degrees, I topped out at 56.5 on the 25th, one of 7 days finding the 50 plus mark. The warmest over night low came on the 27th with a toasty 46. Early in the month the chilliest morning was the 3rd with a modest mark of 23.5, one of 11 days under the freezing mark. The coldest daytime high arrived later that same day when the mercury failed to get out of the 20's, peaking at 29.5. That was the only day that couldn't get above freezing and it turned out to be the snowy day as well when 1.75 inches fluffy white was on the ground. A little bit more snow fell over the next few days mostly as mixed precipitation.

Speaking of precipitation, the month finished up with 8.57 inches in the bucket which for me is about an inch and a half above my 15 year average. 22 days of rain but relatively dry compared to the 16 inch deluge that ended 2015. A flat 2 inches of snow fell from the 3rd through the 5th, nearly all of it on the 3rd. The snow actually hung around in shady spots for over a week; it's unusual for such a light dusting to hang around that long. The wettest day had 1.01 inches of rain; that was one of 13 days with a 1/4 in the bucket or more and one of four with more than 3/4 inch.

Overall the month was about dead on average for daytime highs and a couple of degrees warmer over night by the norms. This may turn out to be a fickle winter; the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde analogy may continue to be relevant as the year progresses. Central Washington has been in a pretty deep freeze most of this winter and if that cold air stays in place east of the Cascades, a cold snap is inevitable here in the West. We shall see.

Warm and cool, warm and cool. Soak it up my friends, soak it up.