2021, First Month in the Books

January was warm and wet, kind of warm, really wet. This winter has been very mild. If we don't get a late season arctic event we will end up as one of the balmiest winters in the last twenty years. 

Last month was rather wet and that typically translates into warmer temps. My observed averages looked more like November or February than January. 3° above normal for the lows and about 2° warmer by day. I had six days in January that broker above 50° and one day got super close to SIXTY! In fact the official measurements at both PDX and Pearson hit 61° on the 13th when I had 59.4° here. That same day resulted in the wettest one day rainfall of the season with 1.96 inches in the bucket. Yeah, that's pineapple express. I only had five days that recorded a freezing temp and everyday managed to get above freezing in the afternoon. The coldest daytime high was only a couple of degrees under the "normal" high, that was a 39.1° mark the afternoon of the 26th when the only snow of the month and season so far fell. It wasn't much. The warmest overnight low was 45° mark the morning of the 2nd. Every day save for two made it into the 40s. The coldest overnight low was a seasonably chilly 24.8° on the 23rd. There were eleven overnight lows that stayed in the 40s!

I mentioned pineapple express and that was the scene for most of the month with warm temps and buckets of rain. I measured 8.4 inches last month against the more typical 7 inches. The warm temps kept the snow levels high and the lower foothills saw mostly rain. Higher up the snow came down by the yard. The wettest day, the aforementioned 13th with a balmy 59.4° high and nearly 2 inches in the bucket. That was one of seven days producing more than 1/4 inch of rain of which five produce more than 1/2 inch and two over an inch. There were 24 days with precipitation. The only snow event was a paltry short lived 1/4 inch on the 26th. Most areas down low saw nothing stick and not much more than flurries, higher plains around 300 feet saw the light dusting hang around for an hour or so. Weak sauce. This is early yet in the second half of winter, so there's still time, but if no more snow falls this season it will be the least snowy since the winter of 2002-03. 

The outlook for the rest of winter is a bit questionable. Right now there is a dip in the jet stream sending heavy rain into California. Sometimes these dips can let cold arctic air invade the region. Over the last ten years we have had several cold events with heavy snow in the second half of winter. 

• February 2011: 5.8 inches (9.4 inches total season)
• March 2012: 7.9 inches (14 inches total season)
• February 2014: 11.1 inches (12.9 inches total season)
• February 2018: 8.5 inches (11 inches total season)
• February 2019: 7.5 inches (8.3 inches total season)
• March 2020: 3 inches (5 inches total season)

You can never really tell for sure, so we will just have to see. Soak it up my friends; soak it up.

Happy New Year!

Another year is in the books, this past one won't be missed much. Weather wise it was business as usual with a couple of twists. before the year end summary here's a look at the final month of 2020.

December was warm and wet, but not as wet as normal. The temps were definitely on the Northern California warm side with a monthly observed average low of 36.94° nearly 4° warmer than my 19 year average and the observed highs a toasty average of 47.68° also about 4° warmer than my average. Yikes more like November! The coldest temp was a nippy 25.6° on the morning of the 29th which was one of only seven sub-freezing days all month. The warmest day was a mark of 58.8° on the 21st which is a daily record for me. Locally the NWS observed a 61° mark that day at the airport also a record. The coldest daytime high a rather typical 39.8° on the 29th under foggy conditions. The warmest overnight low was a balmy 48.4° on the 19th which was another record for me locally, the NWS reported a 51° that night at the airport. The month yielded only nine days with lows under 40° and that is just CRAZY! There were also nine days with highs in the 50s which is pretty nutty for December.

With those warm autumn like temps it should come as no surprise that nary a snowflake was seen last month. Not so much as a flurry. Rain came heavy at times but not enough to hit the average. I saw 6.34 inches measured against my 'normal' of 8.02 inches. There were 10 days with a 1/4 inch or more and two days with more than one inch. December had 19 rainy days and 4 sunny days which is actually pretty typical. The wettest day was the 21st which was the second day in a row over one inch with 1.12 inch falling. 

Looking at the annual numbers for 2020 nothing really bizarre to see. Although snowfall is measured on a seasonal basis the colander year total was sup par at 4.84 inches all of which fell in the first half of 2020. The hottest day of the year was 97.2° on the 26th of July that was also a local daily record at my station. This was the third year in a row that I failed to record a triple digit temp. The NWS reported an over 100° mark however at the airport that day. The coldest temp was rather oddly last month despite its warm characteristics no low temp in 2020 was colder than the 25.6° on December 29th. Perhaps 2020 was a warm year? I think it was actually. Only 30 days saw subfreezing low temps which is about half of a typical year. There was nary a single day under 20° and every single day in 2020 managed to get above freezing. I got 40.15 inches of rain which is about 80% of my local 'normal' and that aligns with other reports in the area. I had 146 days with precipitation of which 62 had more than a quarter inch. There were 96 sunny days which is low even for us since I count 'mostly sunny' as 'sunny'. We had 194 days with a high temp at 60° or more. So how was 2020 as far as record warmth... well I observed the highest average low temp of any year in the last 19 years. But the average observed daily high was in the bottom half of those years so the mean temp in 2020 was pretty average overall. There just wasn't any real weather events aside from a strong wind storm that caused damage and managed to enrage a few wildfires and cause dangerous air quality in September. 

So 2021 is starting off like December ended, warm and wet. This just might be one of those winter seasons that produces no sticking snow. I haven't had one of those since the winter of 2004-05. Take a look at the charts below.