Happy New Year!

Well 2019 is toast and we are now marching into a new decade. December weather wise went out with a bit of a warm whimper.

December had no really cold mornings and daily averages were about 3 above normal on both ends of the day. We had a month filled with clouds and rain which is typical, but the amount of rain was still only about 65% of normal at my locations and similar results were measured around the metro area. Had it not been for a light round of flurries very late on November 30th that carried over to December 1st in the early AM I would have had the first December in five years with zero snow. As it was the snow was barely measurable and did not make it to sunrise.

We do really need some epic levels of precipitation. The last several years have been sub par on rainfall. I hope this new year provides some needed rain and snow.

Temps were not drastic on either extreme just a bit warmer on average overall. The average overnight low came it at a warm 36.95° more than 3° above normal and the average high was nearly equally warm at 46.25° nearly 3° over. The coldest overnight low was 28° on the 26th, which is a garden variety value for a cloudless night in December. Yawn. That was one of only three nights under 30° and just seven nights with freezing temps. The warmest overnight low was a shocker when the merc manged to stay above 50°, yes FIFTY degrees for the low. That occurred on the 20th when the thermometer bottomed out at a balmy 50.2° which ultimately led to the warmest day of the month when it reached 56.3° later in the day. The chilliest afternoon high was a crisp 38.5° on Christmas Eve which as it turned out was the only day that failed to reach 40°. December had four days that manged to push the red line into the 50's.

Overall we did not even come anywhere near any daily record lows nor did we come anywhere near the coldest daytime highs of Decembers past. It wasn't that the temperature was excessively warm last month, it was on average three degrees, it was just so consistently warm rather than a bunch of extremes.  It was simply warm for December, the whole month. I did set one local daily high temp record on the 20th when that 56.3° temp was recorded.

The precipitation side of last month was equally boring. We had one pineapple express event that dropped nearly half of the month's rainfall over a three day period from the 19th through the 21st during which 2.48 inches fell including the wettest day of the whole YEAR at 1.02 inches on the 21st. December yielded 9 days with over a quarter inch of rain and 14 days with measurable precipitation. The aforementioned snow was barely measurable with a total of just a few millimeters on the early morning of the 1st that briefly accumulated to about 0.1 inch.

The year ended with 138 sunny days, 107 rainy days, and 14 days with snow or ice. On the cold side we had 59 sub freezing mornings, 3 sub 20° mornings, only 13 days that failed to reach 40° and every single day in 2019 manged to make above the freezing mark by afternoon. The coldest overnight low was a chilly 19.4° and the coldest daytime high was 34.5° both of these were in March! A total of 8.3 inches of snow fell with nearly all of it coming in February. That snow total was a tad under my 19 year average. Rainfall for the calendar year of 2019 (rainfall is typically measure seasonally from September to August), was only 26.63 inches about HALF of my local normal of 53.36 inches. It's time for us all to do a rain dance, we need it!

On the warm side of things, we had absolutely no days at 100° or more, and only nine days that busted into 90s. 190 days managed to climb to 60° or more, and the hottest temp was 98.8°. The warmest overnight low was a warm and cozy, 65.5°.

We have a fabulous northern maritime climate here that just tends to avoid the extremes. 2019 was no exception. Think about this, 237 days in 2019 saw overnight lows of 50° or more. That is 2/3 of the year with toasty warm lows! 190 days in 2019 saw high temps at or above 60° which is more than half the year!

Looking forward into 2020 we are starting off mild with today's temp already tickling the 50° zone. Weather pros however are watching closely at things over Alaska. That notoriously cold state has been experiencing some of the coldest weather in a decade. The jet stream could make a correction and drag a bunch of that hyper frosty arctic air over the top of us and things can get wintry really fast. Happy New Year!     

November Hath Arrived!

The Autumn plunge is in full effect as temperatures shall continue the rapid descent towards winter. October had a mid-month touch of Indian summer, a rarity in these parts. The trees however tell the tale of Autumn and as those brilliantly colored leaves are now beginning to pile up all over the place. Temps will plunge further and struggle harder to breach the 60 mark and later next month the 50 mark will become a challenge. So it is with the fall.

That touch of Indian Summer I mentioned led to a personal daily record on the 16th. A late 80° mark and likely the last such temp until mid spring. That is the latest date I have recorded an eighty degree temp at this station. That was the only temp to breech the octo-range but several mid-month days were crisp and clear with lovely 70s.

The warmest day for October 2018 was that aforementioned 80.2° on the 16th and the warmest overnight low was the 1st when it dropped to a summerish 55.8°. The coldest temperature I recorded was 36.3° on the morning of the 15th. The chilliest daytime high came on the 5th at just 51.6° under rainy conditions. October gave us five days with highs at 70° or better including that lone eighty. 21 days busted out over 60°. October failed to deliver our first freeze which is not unusual, but it did manage a frost on the morning of the 15th. 8 overnight lows ended up under 40°.

Our average overnight low was actually a tad chillier than my station 'normal' but daytime highs were nearly 3° warmer than my 'normal'. That can be attributed to the mid month sunny stretch. Rainfall was the real tendency breaker. I only managed to get 2.52 inches in the bucket, well short of my "average" 4.15 inches. The soggiest day came on the 27th when 0.56 inches fell which was one of just five days at or above 0.25 inches. October is a transition month between the dry summer and the wet fall/winter/spring. November is here and it should be wetter and colder from here on out.

Generally November is one of the two wettest months of the year. My "normal" for November is 7.98 inches just a tad less than my "normal" of 8.05 inches in December. In a typical winter pattern NW Oregon and SW Washington get the brunt of the systems coming in off the Pacific, as the winter settles in, often the jet stream takes a southerly dip sending some of the storms a little further south into Northern California. I'd love to see above average rain over these next two months since we are a very dry 17.87 inches year to date. Of course water years round these parts are are measured from October 1 through September 30. But none-the-less I'd like to see some moisture to end out the year. Even if I have average rain over the next two months, I'll end up with a sub-par year.

This year climatologists think El Niño conditions are building in the tropical Pacific. This means warmer ocean surface temps and often a stronger but more southerly storm track. If that holds up then Northern California may pick up a chunk of "our" rain. The southerly jet can sometimes leave an opening for incursions of Arctic air into our region.

If El Niño settles in, I think we end up with at least one significant arctic event over the winter. The last two winters have had above average snowfall, I'd say the odds are we under perform this year. So here we go, the snow season begins, November is not really much of a snow maker, we shall see what happens as the darkness descends over the lands north of the 45th parallel.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.



   

June was so very 'June-Like' this year.

Another month passes to the archives and this was a fairly typical June here in the Greater Portland-Vancouver region. Temps ran ever-so-slightly above average has seems to be the trend lately. With the exception of one heat wave early in the month and one bout with some heavy rain this was a very pleasant month.

The heat wave came on back to back days where I recorded identical daily highs of 95.7 degrees. Some stations in the area reported triple digits on one or both of those two days. Depending on your definition of "heat" the warm spell lasted from June 3rd through the 7th with mid to upper eighties on the other three days. 95.7 was the monthly high. For the rest of June after this warm spell, there was just three more 80 degree marks the rest of the month. The coolest temperature I recorded was a crisp 42.6 the morning of the 19th. The coolest afternoon came on the 14th when the mercury failed to reach 60 topping out at just 58.8 degrees. The warmest overnight low came on the 5th when it only cooled down to 63.1 degrees and that came off the previous days scorching 95.7 high.

Overall June produced a mere 2 days over 90 degrees for me and a total of 8 days in the eighties or higher. 11 days failed to hit 70 degrees. The temps at both ends of the day averaged about 2 degrees warmer than my 15 year establish "normals".

On the waterfront, I recorded 1.77 inches of rain well below my "normal' mark of 2.47 in June. The wettest day was 0.66 inches on the 23rd and there were 8 days with measurable rain including 2 with more than a quarter inch in the bucket.

We had some thunderstorms, a little hail and some amazing warm sunny days. It was in a word: June.

July and August are the only two "dry months" in this area and these are also the "hot" months. So far July is pretty mild as I am sitting at a San Diego Beach, comfy 73.6 degrees under mostly sunny skies. Me likes ;)

February was rather unexciting

Once again a month has closed and this extended version of February proved to be a bit unexciting. There was little in the way of winter weather and a typical amount of rain. We did have some record or near record warm temperatures that were scattered around the Metro area during the month. I had three 15 year warmest daily highs in row, the 7th, 8th, and 9th all above 60 degrees. These were three of the six days in excess of 60 degrees.

February is a transitional month that can be winter cold or spring warm. The shortest month of the year here in the 'Couv' is also the month that begins to show some of the fickle nature of springtime, despite being no part of the official spring. February can enjoy some moderately warm weather that is virtually absent in December and January but it can also get downright nasty cold at times. This year was more of the former and none of the latter.

Really we had steady showers and rain throughout the month with a few sunny day breaks. never any real heavy rain nor any snow or cold weather. 20 days with measurable precipitation and 9 days of at least mostly sunshine. 8 days busted out over the top of 50 degrees and every day managed to top out well above 40 degrees. Just three mornings saw sub freezing temps and lowest of those a barely chilly 30 degrees. Overall this past February was rather toasty on temps with nearly plus five degrees for both minimum and maximum temps on average. The average morning low was observed at 39.88 and the average daily high at 54.44.

The coldest morning as mentioned above was a mere 30 on the 23rd and the warmest overnight low came on the 15th with a toasty 49.6. The warmest day came on the 25th with a very nice 64.6 the coolest afternoon was the 1st day of the month when the mercury topped out at 44.4 degrees.

Rainfall was steady and consistent but never really heavy with the most falling on the 4th less than 1/2 and inch at 0.45. There were nine days with 1/4 inch or more.

Looking ahead to the month of March, my guess is that we are done with winter. Long term weather prognosticators with far more experience than I are not suggesting any late season antics from Old Man Winter. Historically with the notable exception of march 2012, I have never received more than a dusting of short lived snow in March. That exception was a chilly month of March with nearly 8 inches of snow scattered through the month. I just don't see that happening this time 'round. Following the trends were have a decent shot at some early warm weather and will likely enjoy our first 70 degree day sometime in the upcoming month. The last time the needle blew past 70 degrees was back on October 16th when we enjoyed a beautiful 74.1 degrees. I'm sure everyone is looking forward to seeing those kinds of days soon :) Spring is quite literally standing at the door.

Soak it up my friends; soak it up.

Happy New Year!

2015 has arrived! OK it is January second and I suppose you figured that out already. I would like to wish all of you a happy and prosperous new year.

December 2014 was a balmy month, I mean way above average on the temperatures. The observed average high for the last month of 2014 was 47.13 degrees nearly 5 above my 13 year average at this location. The observed average low last month was a toasty 37.79 more than five above my 13 year average. Hopefully I'll smile when I get my heating bill for December.

December started off by continuing a very chilly cold snap that ended November. The first two days of the month had lows of 19.7 and 21 respectively and daytime highs of 27.4 and 36.1. Hey it was December, no big deal. But then the next 26 days were essentially a winter heat wave! The month managed to close out properly as the 30th and 31st recorded lows of 20.4 and 18.6 respectively and highs in the mid thirties. Now that is more like winter.

The coldest low occurred on the last day of the month with that aforementioned 18.6 mark. That was no where near any records but legitimately chilly. The warmest temperature came on the 11th with 58.8 degrees. Well shy of my December record of 59.9 but the warmest December 11th I have yet to record at this location. The coldest daytime high temperature came on the very first day of the month with that 27.4 mark and the warmest overnight low occurred on the 21st. Longest night, warmest temp? That's weird; I didn't see that coming.

This last December was unusual in that I recorded 16 days where the low temperature was up in the 40s! I only had 5 days with a sub freezing mark and 5 days with highs below 40 degrees. well the jury doesn't have to deliberate long on this case, December 2014 was a warm month.

The rainfall was a little light for a December but a still adequate amount of 6.24 inches landed in the gauge. I tend to get around 8 inches in December. We had one really wet day where 1.15 inches splashed down on the 20th. The month was a bit cloudy overall with just 6 days of sunshine and 19 days with at least some rain.

December had a few bouts with wind as we did in November. I lost two fences this season!

Year end stats go like this...

Days lo<32	44
Days lo<20	5
Days lo>40	234
Days lo<50	221
Days lo>60	23
days hi>100	0
Days hi>90	13
Days hi>60	188
Days hi<50	80
Days hi<40	17
Days hi<32	5
Days sunny	158
Days rainy	139
Days Snow/Ice	9
Total Snowfall	12.20
Average Low	46.05
Average High	63.10
Max Temp	98.4
Min Temp	18.6
Wettest Day	2.01
Days >.24 Rain	64
Tot Precipitation	47.83

Get and soak it up my friends; soak it up.

A Fabulous October is in the Books

Dougan Falls, October 29th

Another month is laid to rest and this time the outcome was amazing. This past October felt like it was warmer than average.  It wasn't. The average daily high was spot on my 12 year average of slightly above 60 degrees and the overnight lows were about 3 degrees colder than my average.

Perhaps it was the lack of rain that made October so delicious. Typically about 4 inches of rain falls in October but we had just a tad more than one inch. Many areas set daily high records on the 22nd. I had 71.2 that day which was slightly lower than my all time daily high of 72 on that date back in 2005. It is however a tie for the latest 70 degree day of the year. It is quite likely I won't see 70 again until late March or April.

The numbers looked like this. Average daily low of 41.19 and high of 60.08 against "normals" of 44.93 and 60.81. Coldest night was 30 degrees on the 29th. Coldest afternoon was the 2nd with 51.6. Hottest day was 72.6 on the 7th and the warmest overnight low was 47.1 on Halloween!

The wettest day was the 27th with three tenths and the total precipitation was a desert dry 1.09 inches.

Really, this was a pretty bland October, why the heck did it feel so awesome. Wait a minute, here is an interesting stat... wait for it now... here it comes... Great Scott, that's it! We had 18 days of sunshine! That just does not happen in October very often. The fall color has been a bit flat but the great yellow orb was most gracious with her extended participation in our weather. Oh yes my friends, soak it up!

October Rain