A cool and wet September and a new Fall

Hello October! It really is Autumn now, seriously it's getting chilly. The Fall season of 2019 decided to make an early appearance this year with a wet and frankly cool September. Temps were well under average by day and due largely to extension cloud cover a bit above average by night. I don't know if this is a harbinger of what's to come this winter season but if it is, get your waterproof gear and some heavy sweaters it's gonna be nippy.

September was mild and daytime highs were well below the average with 69.85° against the 'normal' 73.63°. Overnight lows stayed a bit warm with several cloudy night trapping that warmer daytime air at the surface. The month averaged 54.77° overnight about 3 over. September managed to come and go without a single day in the 90s. The warmest day was the 5th with an 85.8° mark. Humidity was higher than typical and that really felt like a 90 plus day. That was also one of five days at or above 80° all of which occurred in the first half of the month. The latter half of September is generally the start of the 'Autumn slide' in temps and that was the case this year as well. The warmest overnight low came on the morning of the 1st with a rather balmy 64.6°.

But September wasn't about warmth this go round. In fact I had a few record cold temps for my locale. More than half the days failed to breech the 70° ceiling, two days failed to make 60° and the 29th topped out at a Thanksgiving-ish 49.6°. I had to go back and double check the daily log to make sure the station didn't go down in the afternoon for a few hours. It did not. The 29th had the coldest daytime high I have ever recorded in September, at this station dating to 2003. Earlier that morning recorded a daily low record of 43 but that was nowhere near a monthly record. I also had a daily record low on the last morning of the month with the chilliest day of the month at 35.4° still well off my all time monthly low of 34°. We had just six days of mostly sunshine and 15 days with rain.

After August was wetter than average yielding 1.58 inches of rain, September gave us October like numbers in the rain bucket with 4.07 inches. That is well above my 2.47 inch 17 year average for the month. We had a few squalls that produce thunder, lightning and hail along with some drenching rainfall. 1.01 inches fell on the 8th. We had six days produce a 1/4 inch or more. On the 28th a late afternoon thunderstorm produced a rapid 1/2 inch of rain and dumped nearly an inch of hail that stayed on the ground for half an hour. If this past month is a herald, holy cow things are going to get wild!

October may bring us some nice weather for a few days of Indian Summer, but I wouldn't count on it. The latest I have ever recorded an 80° high was October 16th and the 17th is the latest I have ever recorded a 75° high. The NWS is calling for a few nice days in the upper 60s and some sunshine, but also several days of rain. If we get to mid October without any summerish weather, that's all she wrote.

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 :)

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.

Wet, dripping wet...

An epic downpour of rain, thunder and hail is happening right now.  That cool system moving in will create havoc for us over the next 36 hours and watch out for snow on the passes.  NWS says 3000 feet for fluffy white stuff.  The temperature dropped six degrees in sixty seconds. Here is a video I took towards the end of the main deluge.

Spring weather in the Northwest can turn on the proverbial dime, and it has done just that today.  Kudos to the hardworking folks over at the Portland, OR and Seattle, WA offices of the National Weather Services for nailing this forecast.