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.

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.   

Summer Season is here, but Summer is not.

The merry month of May is in the books and statistically is was pretty darn 'normal'. Overnight lows averaged almost dead 'normal' and the average daily high was about a degree above 'normal'. Rainfall came in well under normal but May is a month with a wide range of variance so it was really pretty typical. The Memorial Day Weekend was pretty nice with mid eighties on Saturday and Sunday and a mild 76° on Monday. June is starting off cloudy and damp and that is typical as well. For most of America, June kicks off the summer season. Here on the west side of the Cascade mountains, June remains firmly in the grasp of spring and her volatile moods.

Temperatures were literally a roller coaster ride on the chart. On May 4th we had a nice sunny 83.1° for the high and it was followed by a chilly 59.5° on Cinco de Mayo. So went the whole month.

The only hot day was the 22nd when my thermometer topped at at exactly 90° the only reading to breech the nineties all month. I had eight days with a reading in the eighties or better and ten days that failed to reach 60°. The warmest overnight low came on the 4th with a summerish 56.5° and the coolest temperature came the morning of the 1st when it was a nippy 37.9°. That was one of four mornings that dipped into the thirties overnight. Such is the fickle nature of spring time in the Northwest. The chilliest daytime high was a cool 52° on the 13th.

As for the rainfall it shows up as below average but really May is often beset with light thunderstorms and scattered showers. My rainfall was light but other ares very near me probably recorded above average rainfall. I had nary a day above 1/4 inch of rain and just 8 days with precipitation. That said there were a couple of days where the region had strong thunderstorms including one that triggered an alert from the "Emergency Broadcast Network". That alert was for the northern part of Clark County where serious lightning strikes, flash flooding, and golf ball size hail were coming down. I got light showers during that event. Another amazing light show went on for nearly two hours to my south, but again the rain from that one missed me. So 1.24 inches was my bucket total for May well under my 3.25 average. The wettest day was the 16th with 0.24 inches.

June will likely be a roller coaster for the first half before we see a summer pattern develop. Such it is in late spring. May and June tend to be unpredictable. But the next sic weeks will deliver long, long, long daylight as we move into that period where we have 18 hours of light, dawn to dusk. Cloudy or not, that is good stuff :)

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.

 

Chilly but no Records

Another month is in the books and once again this winter is proving to be chillier than average as February came in well under the established norm.

Unlike December and January which had some significant snowfall, the shortest month was rather ho-hum. It was cooler and wetter than average, but uneventful for the most part.

Temperatures were cool but no daily records fell for me. The chilliest temp came on the morning of the 13th when it was 28°. The coldest daytime high temp came on the 3rd when the mercury could push past 36.3°. We did have some fairly warm weather despite the overall nip in the air. Three days managed to get above 55° including the toasty 60.4° recorded on the 13th. Yes it was one of those late winter oddities where the both the monthly coldest temp and warmest temp occurred on the same day. I mentioned that no records fell but what made this month chilly was the consistently cool daytime highs over most of the month. February is a month where 50s start to show up regularly and this last month saw just four temps over 50° all month. My observed average daily marks were a slightly cooler than normal 34.81° L and very cool four degrees under normal 45.67° H. I had five days that failed to breech the 40° mark which is not unusual in December or January but definitely out of character for February. Everyday last month did manage to at least get above the freezing mark.

As far as precipitation is concerned, last month was all wet. I recorded a soggy 9.41 inches of rain. I had three wet days over an inch including a soaker 1.66 inches on the 16th. I was a whopping 3.5 inches over my established normal for the month.

Despite the cool temps and copious precipitation, I had only a tiny trace of snowfall over four days totaling a practically nil, 1/4 inch. That little bit however has launched the 2016-17 winter snow season into a 3rd place tie with 2011-12 as far as measured snowfall at my location dating to 2001. I stand at 14.05 inches of snow going into March, a month with a 16 year average of 0.85 inches. It would take a record breaking monthly snowfall for March (2012, 7.85 inches) to move our snow year into 2nd place (2003-04, 22.90 inches) and 1st place (2008-09, 28.75 inches) is simply out of reach this late in the season.

We spent nearly the whole month of February hovering just under the snow level. The NWS has showers and rain all week but they have tossed in a little chance of some snow mixing in on Sunday. If that happens and I get some measurable snow, 2016-17 will stand on the podium of snowy winters, with the bronze, at least since 2001. As for a record breaking March, don't hold your breath; since 2001 only that one March in 2012 yielded more than 1.6 inches. I'm pretty sure the 7.85 inches in March of 2012 was a freak of nature!

March is a fickle month, it can be very spring-like, but it can be wintry as well. Who knows? Just get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up!

 

Monday was warmest day of year!

All the weather prognosticators were calling for an 80 degree mark on Monday and I sure got close but no cigar. Some locations locally achieved the milestone but I registered a 78.6 degree mark. That was good enough to be the warmest so far this year.

After all that warm weather over the winter, I figured 80 would have come in March. It looks like it may have to wait until May.

It's all good though mid to upper 70s is fine by me :)

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

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.

Heavy Rain, Thunder and Snow

Well we have had very little low elevation snow this past winter season and as spring open there was nary a flake of snow on the foothills. Only the majestic and mighty Cascade volcanoes were wearing a mantle of white the day Miss Spring took the reigns of control. This past weekend brought some thunderstorms and quite a bit of heavy hail in some of our valley locations. The foothills got a dusting of snow down to mid-slope at around 2500 to 3000 feet.

It seems we have transitioned from dry to wet over the last week or so. Local hydrologists have been worried that a weak snow pack in the Cascades could lead to an early and possibly dangerous fire season this summer. Let's just hope the springtime delivers some tasy snow events in the foothills and the high cascades to help keep us lush and green through the summer. meanwhile get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up :)

A Soggy Soaker Weekend leads to Sunny week, again.

It rained good and hard this past weekend, but the sun is back today and the mercury is settling in the mid sixties today. Looks like spring is back just as it has been all winter long it seems. This week will be a fickle springlike episode with rain and sun followed by more rain and sun. Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Warm dry and soggy too So goes June in the 'Couv'

Our neighbors south of the Columbia enjoyed nice summery weather for the Rose Festival which seems to be a rarity. The Rose Festival low as it is affectionately called, was delayed this year. But fickle spring was not to be denied her angry bouts of wet temper. This whole last week was a cloudy display of drips and raging downpours.

I have openly pondered the notion that perhaps this year we will have a summer that actually gets underway in June. Some weather experts seem to think that an extended period of warm and dry weather is eminent. I don't know too many people that would not welcome an early summer.

Whatever the weather get out and soak it up my friends, soak it up.

May has been... well... May

It has been a roller coaster ride so far this month with the hottest temps of the year and some pretty big thunderstorms. We keep bouncing between warm and cool weather and that is pretty much par for the course in the merry month of May.

For Memorial Day the forecast warned of showers and that is also typical. But the weather man was off by a day as the holiday was mostly sunny and quite pleasant. I managed to get the BBQ out and soak up a nice mild afternoon :) Enjoy the rest of the week I chat next week with May stats.

Glorious Sunshine Returns

With nary a complaint from anyone, the spring weather has returned to the brighter and warmer variety we all know and love. Today's high temps were flirting affectionately with 70 degrees and the prognosticators at the NWS think it could be warmer over the weekend.

But first we must endure some more liquid refreshment. Showers abound till Saturday followed by a healthy dose of vitamin D enriching sunshine on Mother's Day.

Soak it up my friends; soak it up.

Rain, rain, rain, and some sun too...

Oh spring you feisty little one... Temps on a yo-yo with wet and wild episodes and outbursts.

Fickle Spring Continues to be Erratic

Ah, springtime and a tickle of fickle. The last couple of days were cool and showery with a few heavy showers thrown in just to reminds us that we are west of the Cascades in the great Pacific Northwest. Today however El Sol will make an appearance and we should be much warmer and drier heading into Easter weekend.

I am not buying today's forecast since the sun is already bustin' through the cloud cover. But Easter Sunday should prove to be a gentle spring day. Soak it up my friends; soak it up.

Sensational Spring Weather Continues

It just keeps coming... more and more spring sunshine. I took a drive out to Yacolt today under mostly sunny skies and temps in the mid 60s. The East Fork of the Lewis River is flowing quite nicely. I pulled off the road and scampered down along the river bank to get this sloppy hand held waterfall shot.

The gang over at the National weather Service is suggesting we should see more sunshine and even warmer temperatures before the showers of Miss Spring return in the middle of the week. So you know what to do; soak it up my friends, soak it up.

All Quiet on the Weather Front

There really isn't much to write about on the weather side of life. We are having a fairly typical and bland early spring with rain and showers, modest temps and peek-a-boo sunshine.

There is a silver lining in those dark clouds and the NWS seems to think it will shine upon us tomorrow with mid-seventies and beaming rays of glorious sunshine. Yeah, I will be soaking that up my friends... Soak it up.

Epic Spring Cloudbursts Today!

Well Miss Spring had a bit of a vernal tissy today with copious sums of rain crashing down upon us throughout the day and a little thunder and hail just to let winter know, she is in control.

Over all the incidents of heavy rain were scattered but holy cow did it come down in some spots today!

The forecast for the next few days is more of the same and again the NWS is optimistic with these forecast temps in the mid to upper fifties. It has been more like upper 40's and low fifties so we shall just have to wait and see if Miss Spring can rip the controls for the atmosphere away from the clutches of Old man Winter once and for all as the month of April looms on the near horizon.

As usual rain or shine, sun or snow, soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Spring Rain Washes Away the Flowers

Wiki-commons image

Those beautiful flowers are now fluttering in the breeze as the rain has returned and brought with it wind and much needed water. The next few days will see clouds and periods of heavy showers. The NWS is being a bit optimistic with their temperature prediction today's 56 ain't gonna happen it only hit 48 on the old dial today. There is no light at the end of this tunnel... yet. Patience young Padawan, it will come. In the mean time do your best Gene Kelly impersonation and sing in the rain.



Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

70 degrees? Could be...

The great yellow orb has been blessing us with her brilliant presence in the post equinox sky. Spring, oh, glorious spring. Today and tomorrow is expected to yield the warmest temperatures of the season with the National Weather Service anticipating a 70 degree mark tomorrow afternoon. Some showery weather will return to the area later in the week and that precipitation should be welcomed with open arms as the annual rain bucket is still a little dry.

In the mean time, get outside and soak it up my friends, soak it up.