Merry Christmas! As I write this around 10am, it’s 37 degrees outside in my Orchards neighborhood with light rain. I don’t see any signs of slush mixing in…but I imagine a few hundred feet up in the hills a few miles east, there’s a wintry mix or maybe even snow. This morning’s 12z GFS showed an 850mb temp of -5.5C for 10am, and a “hole” in shower activity over Portland and Vancouver. In fact it was dry for most of…
It’s been the buzz of Pacific Northwest weather geeks for several days now. And at this point, models are zeroing in on the basic pattern. So it’s time to say: Our region is looking at a significant winter cold event, beginning during the weekend of December 25-26. We don’t know yet just how cold it will get, but it will most likely be the coldest weather we have seen so far this season. HIGHLIGHTS: Forget about lowland snow on Christmas…
Ahhh! Nothing says winter in the Pacific Northwest quite like cold valley rain, heavy Cascade snow…and occasional teases of snow at lower elevations. Last night (Monday) was the first time this season we saw sticking snow at the lowest elevations in northwest Oregon/southwest Washington. A heavy band of showers moved through the metro area around 9-10pm, dumping nearly an inch of snow in some neighborhoods in Washington County (i.e. Hillsboro and Beaverton). My street in Orchards, WA saw a brief…
It’s the last night of November and the end of meteorological autumn in the Northern Hemisphere! As of the 29th, it was the 3rd warmest November in PDX history, at 50.2 degrees F (about 3.0F warmer than normal). Given that today was mild yet again we will probably hold on to that 3rd place finish. That said, we just barely edged out the next few Novembers, and are still much cooler than the two warmest on record (1995 and 2016). …