May Felt Chilly, but it Wasn't

This last month was a bit cloudier than normal and I think that led me to "feel" like it was a chilly May. it wasn't in fact it was quite the opposite. Overnight lows averaged a balmy +3° and daytime temps were slightly warmer than average. It was a about normal for the rain bucket as well with a little less than my average of 3.25 inches. May ended with thunderstorms over the weekend resulting in enough rain to push my station to near normal. June begins with the warm rays of El Sol, but don't be lured in by the Siren of Spring, T-storms and showers will return.

On the temps the chilliest measure I got was a nippy 37.5° on the morning of the 4th. The coolest afternoon high was 56.4° on the 14th. I did mange to top 90° for the first time in 2020 when the merc produced a warm 90.7° on the 28th. The warmest overnight low was a a rather summer-like 59.4° on the 29th of course following the month's high. That 90.7° mark was the only day that manged to reach into the realm of "hot" aside from that day the month produced four additional days above 80° and a total of 10 days above 70°. There was just the one morning under 40° but there was ten more that dipped into the 40s.

May produced 3.00 inches of rain at my station measured against my typical 3.25 inches. The wettest day was 0.39 on the 15th which was one of six days with more than 1/4 inch. We had 15 days with measurable precipitation and 4 days of mostly sunshine. In a nutshell, that was a warm and cloudy month.

June is here and miss spring will fight hard to dazzle us with her moody attitude but in a few weeks the glorious summer will arrive delivering weeks on end of beautiful sunshine that should shine upon us with little interruption until mid-September.

Get outside keeping your distance of course, and soak up the sunshine for the next few days. Look at all that glistening snow on the high Cascade peaks. Yes indeed soak it up.

May is Here, April was chilly...

Welcome to May! Eventually spring will arrive, I hope. April was a rather blah month with daytime highs about 2 under average and not a single warm day at 70° or better. Overnight lows were actually a tad above average and that is likely due to the many, many days with cloud cover. So that makes now, OVER SEVEN months without a seventy. In fact as of today, we are at 216 days and counting. Yikes!

April's temperature numbers were pretty flat over all. We had six days with temperatures above 60°, the warmest was the 21st when we busted out a 68.2 mark. It is likely some nearby locations saw 70°, I did not. We managed to hit at least 50° on all 30 days in April the coolest of which was the 24th when I peaked at exactly 50 degrees. The coldest temperature came the morning of the 3rd with a frosty 33.6 degrees and one of 9 days with lows in the 30s. I had just three "sunny" days and I had to get a bit generous with the definition to pull that off. 18 days with rain but a less than average load in the bucket.

As for precipitation it was all rain which is no surprise as snow in April is pretty rare. We did have a fair amount of thunderstorms and some associated hail collected on the streets a few times. Nothing larger than pea size. I measured 3.88 inches for the month, running shy of my 15 year average of around 4.24 in April. There was only two days that were really wet the worst of which was still a modest soaking of just 0.88 inches on the 24th.

Overall April was a bit boring on the weather front, I guess that is good, really. Averages were 42° low and 57° high. That's about 0.7° over and 2.5° under respectively.

This week the NWS in Portland is calling for some 80s on Wednesday and Thursday. It seems we get to just skip the whole first 70 and go right for the June Jugular at 81°. We shall see, it has been a weird year.

Soggy October

What a month! We just closed the books on the soggiest month of the year. October 2016 produced a whopping 9.15 inches of rain which is more than DOUBLE the average over my 15 years of reporting here. Is this what La Niña has in store for us this year? I wrote about the upcoming La Niña predictions on my blog, The 'Couv' Life, here.

It is not often that October is a rain leader. Sure the season starts to change in October but God doesn't usually open main line faucet until November.

I had 26 days with rain and only one day I could really call "sunny". All the cloud cover worked to create a month with warmer than average overnight lows and cooler than average daytime highs. There was nary a 70 degree mark in the month of October and in fact the warmest day I recorded at my station was a 66.7 on the 12th.

Temperature wise, October had only one low in the thirties and it was a 37 measured on the morning of the 12th. 19 days this past month saw overnight lows above 50 degrees! The warmest overnight low came on the 8th when the mercury bottomed out at a summer-like 54.7 degrees. The warmest afternoon was the aforementioned 66.7 on the 12th and the coolest afternoon high was a seasonably cool 53.6 degrees yesterday. The observed averages were nearly 3 degrees warmer overnight but nearly two degrees cooler by day. October's observed averages came in at 48.59 low and 59.56 high.

On the water side of the weather, we had a very wet month indeed. I mentioned at the start over 9 inches of precipitation fell all in the form of rain except in the mountains. We had one monster rain storm that came in on the 13th a dumped a monsoonal 2.21 inches on my rain gauge. That is the type of day that can skew the average for the whole month. Let it be known however, that really isn't the case this time. If I remove that day the month would still have nearly 7 inches and would still be close to 50% higher than average rainfall for October. Seriously guys, it rained 26 days last month! I only had two days in which there was zero rain. There were three days with less than .04 which really isn't "rain". There was 11 days with at least a 1/4 inch of rain. This was a cloudy, soggy, and all round rainy October.

Mount Hood Meadows Webcam shot, last week.

Is this a prelude to a monster wet season? Will I get five feet of rain this winter? Could happen? There's already nearly a foot in the bucket this season!

How about the snow and ski season? La Niña tends to favor the snow in the mountains. You can see that snow is accumulating up on Mount Hood already and the start of the winter ski season may come before Thanksgiving if this precipitation trend continues.

We sure could use a big thick snow pack this year. The cooler pacific ocean temperature could bring us a banner water year by packing the mountains with 80 feet of snow! Let's hope so!

Soak it up my friends, soak it up!

Some Sunnyliciousness is coming...

Take a look at this forecast! Finally; we might see some sunshine. Doesn't that just break your heart? We have been in a rainy mess for weeks on end and now that proverbial light is shining at the end of the tunnel. Thankfully it is not the light of an oncoming train.

We have been quite warm however, so far this autumn. I have yet to record a sub freezing temperature and I haven't even recorded a sub 40 degree temp yet. That has never happened this late in my 13 years at this location. November 7th and still not a single temp reading in the thirties? Wow! We have had a freight train of storms coming in, often packing sub-tropical moisture. October was very wet and November may follow suit. All of that said, it will get cold here real soon. Get out and enjoy up this bit of sunshiny goodness over the next several days, it will end.

Soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Big Scary Storm Headed our Way!

We have our first big storm of the season rolling in as we speak. This one is packing high winds that will really be felt along the coast. It is also tapping into some tropical moisture and that means we will get a good hard soaking.

The National Weather Service has a weather statement out on this. Be prepared for local street flooding as the drains are all clogged up fresh fallen leaves. My new rain gauge is acting up :( I have to go manual for a while :|

Batten down the hatches this could be a wet and wild ride!

The Waning days of Summer

This latest round of 90 degree weather may be our summer swan song. Temps are expected to drop 15 degrees or so over the next few days and we may even see a little wet stuff over the week end. September is a month that is generally quite pleasant. Sure we will have a little rain mixed in with sunshine. But the real indicator that change is eminent is felt in those cooler September nights. Enjoy the last of August and as I always say, soak it up my friends; soak it up.

Fabulous warm weather will continue!

Yes it will. But today we are going to have a brief departure from the saucy sunshine and experience some summer thunderstorms. The rumble and boom of mother nature will remind us that the Pacific Northwest is not immune to a little violence in the atmosphere. Hug your pets and batten down the hatches, this will be a brief but bumpy ride this afternoon.

The rest of the week looks like more yummy summerliciousness. I invented a new word. 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.

March is Gone, Hello April

The Merry Month of March is in the books and the only real madness we had was the kind we like... in the NCAA Basketball Tournament. This March can be summed up in a word; "wet".

The rain bucket soaked up seven and a half inches of wild and wet precipitation. There were thunderstorms and some hail but nary a flake of snow down here in the city. The wettest day was the 5th with a whooping 1.14 inches coming down. There were 12 days with more than a quarter inch of rain and 20 days with measurable precipitation.

Temps for last month were pretty typical for March. Average lows at 39.13 which is a touch warm and daily highs averaging 56.06 two degree above average. The chilliest low was a nippy 29.1 on March 22nd and the warmest mark a sunshiny 71.4 which occurred on the 24th. That was the first 70 mark since October 22nd, and it felt GREAT. The first day of March managed a high of only 42.6 and that was the chilliest high temp of the month. On the 9th the mercury stayed above 50 with a low temp of 50.5 that was the warmest low of the month. The entire month only yielded 4 days with a subfreezing mark and 8 days with the high temperature reaching at least 60 degrees.

Other than the soggy otter effect of 7.47 inches of rain, March was pretty nice. April is allot like March just a tad warmer as we move away from the clutches of winter and into the fickle spring.

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.

A Real 'Howler' Last Night

I am operating today after a night of nominal sleep. A big blustery storm rolled into the 'Couv' overnight bringing with it howling winds in the 50 plus MPH range and a good soaking rain. All night long the wind ripped through the trees and beat against the side of my house. The rain came down so hard at times it just pounded the windows.

The ground became so saturated that all the earthworms had to surface. I walked out of my front door this morning to find a dozen of those worms taking refuge on my porch.

The good news is, that temps are very mild in the fifties already. As I write this, the sun is playing peek-a-boo with us. We should have a wet and windy week that may be capped off with glorious sunshine in time for the weekend.

As always, soak it up my friends, soak it up.

Finally Weather Worthy of our Reputation

We had a chilly but very dry start to our winter. We are just now starting to see a more typical soggy pattern with that incessant drip in the valleys and some healthy snow dumps up high. Despite that cold December, we have almost no snow up in the foothills. Looking up at Silver Star and seeing little or no white is pretty unusual in January. But on a sunny first week of the year, that is exactly what we saw up there. The only white peak were the big year round white tops, like Hood, Rainier, Adams and St, Helens.

Now the classic Northwest rain is a starting to stream in. For our mountain resorts, the last few days a netted a couple of feet of fresh powder and I am sure that makes those ski operators very happy. As for the next several days, the NWS says more, more and then a little more.

Meanwhile down here in the valley we are seeing some almost balmy weather. Temps at the airport have been flirting with 50 degrees all week while my home station has been in the mid forties by day. Mild winter weather has been the recipe these last 5-7 days.

Here is the forecast for the next few, yes that is a fifty in there... get out and soak it up my friends; soak it up.

The Bugs are Acting Weird

Here we are in mid-November and I have yet to really see a cold day. In fact I have only had a couple of sub-freezing temperatures this season. Sure, it's been gloomy and cool, but we haven't had a chilly snap yet. Every time the sun peaks out and warms up the house those pesky yellow jackets start to buzz about. Those guys should have hibernated or died or whatever they do, by now. I know it's anecdotal evidence, but I think this could be an indicator. It has been a fairly warm autumn so far. Do those yellow jackets know something I do not? Since I am on the anecdote train, I have noticed the little sugar ants have been coming in the house late this year. They are normally gone for the winter by now as well. Maybe they are seeking a warmer spot inside because they sense something cold coming. Who knows, nature is always a step ahead of humanity. Enjoy the mild weather, some say the 'big chill' is coming a little later on in the season. And the bugs are acting weird.

A Slippery September has Slid into the Books

Daily Rainfall for September

How's that title for a tongue twister? September was quite wet in fact it was the wettest month of 2013, thus far. I recorded more than five inches of rain in a month I typically see less than two and half. That says as much about our dry winter and spring as it does for a damp late summer.

The temperatures were a touch chilly by day and a tad warm by night compared to my long term averages. That said I also recorded the hottest day of 2013, a blistering 94.6 on the 11th. I think that will stick at this point lest we break the all time heat record for October by 5 or 6 degrees. The lowest afternoon high was a cool 53.7 on the 27th. September's evenings were comfy as we enjoyed mild temps most of the month with an average overnight low of just under 55 degrees, the warmest was 62.4 on the 2nd and the chilliest came in at 43.8 on the 19th. The wettest day of this watery month came on the 28th when 1.55 inches fell. That was the second day this past month with over an inch of rain. Although the rain gauge had 5.23 inches for the month, there were only 11 rainy days compared to 13 sunny days.

Daily Temperatures for September

The Autumn Plunge I have talked about this past month is well under way. By Halloween our highs will struggle to get into the mid 50s. It is time to break out the sweaters if you don't like it chilly. For me it is not quite sweater weather yet. I will be watching for our first frost and freeze of the year. I find that both typically arrive in October with a frost in the first ten days and a hard freeze by week three.

I am noticing that some of the early turners have begun to flash some color. Of course, I am talking about autumn leaves. Here in the Northwest we are granted a gift of brilliant and beautiful color as recompense for a precipitous drop in temperature.

Looking ahead to winter, the almanacs are suggesting a cold and snowy season awaits on the other side of Thanksgiving. Those ancient periodicals The Farmer's Almanac and The Old Farmer's Almanac, that have been continuously published since 1818 and 1792 respectfully, are both pointing to reduced solar activity and oceanic conditions in their predictions of a frigid winter. Hmm, we are due for a snowy winter. Last time I had more than ten inches of snow was 2008-09 and that was five years ago. Almanac, schmalmanac, I have my own anecdotal evidence and I think were in for white winter this year. So get outside and soak it up my friends, soak it up.