Happy New Year!

2018 is in the books and in a single weather word, it was... DRY. Not just dryer than average, bone dry semi-desert dry. But Rod, you live in Western Washington, how dry could it be? How about a paltry 25.32 inches of rain in the calendar year 2018. Yes precipitation years are measured like school years so we are only a couple of month's into the 2018-19 water year., but none-the-less 2018 was semi-arid and that total is barely better than half my 17 year average for precipitation.

While on the subject of precipitation, December ended up with a dry 4.25 inches of rain and just a spattering of snowfall that came in a light wintry mix on the 9th. That is barely over half my typical December rainfall number. The soggiest day delivered nearly an inch of rain, that came on the 18th with 0.95 inch. We had a total of 15 days with some rain and 7 days with sunshine. Nearly half of the wet days produced a quarter inch or more.

On the temperature front, the month was toasty warm compared to a "normal" December. Month 12 only produced 7 subfreezing lows and every day managed to get above the freezing mark. In fact, all but 2 days pushed the merc above 40 degrees. Despite the month being some 3 degrees warmer by day and night than average, there were no real warm days. The warmest temp I measured was a nice 56.5° on the 18th but that came with all that rain. The warmest overnight low was 45.5° also on the 18th. That was some pineapple express happening there. The coldest morning low arrived on the 6th with a 23.2°, nowhere near any kind of record but it was the chilliest December 6th since 2005. The coldest daytime high was closer to a typical high measuring 39.6° on the 9th.

Looking ahead to the rest of the winter, we are not looking good on snowfall, rainfall, and temps are running warmer by more than just a little bit. Things can change quickly and we have yet to have an outbreak of arctic air. I would expect at least one bout with a cold air mass dipping south into the Pacific Northwest and odds are some sticking snow will arrive during the next 6 weeks.

In the mean time, Happy New Year and hello 2019. Let's all continue to soak it up, my friends, soak it up.