Karl's Weather Discussions

Five days ago, local meteorologists declared that “winter is over.” There has been considerable debate the past few years about what constitutes “wintry” conditions in our mild temperate climate. Here’s why I feel that winter is truly over: 1. We’re not going to have a significant snowstorm in the lowest elevations of the Pacific Northwest. Truth be told…we probably could have called this back on the 22nd/23rd of February, when it became apparent that the upcoming chilly trough was not…

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  For more than a week, weather enthusiasts have fixated on the chilly upper-level trough that is currently entering the Pacific Northwest and will stick with us for the coming week. Snow levels will drop to 1000’ at times, and a few slushy flakes could be seen even at the lowest elevations. But I’ve long felt that false spring – here defined as a stretch of warm and (usually) dry weather before March 1 – is a more noteworthy phenomenon…

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It’s been a boring first half of February…at least until today, with a wet snowstorm expected in the Columbia River Gorge. Yesterday was a classic “late inversion season” day, not unlike an early-season day in October or early November. Fog formed in early morning, then slowly burned off under the marginal sun angle. The Willamette Valley and parts of Clark County didn’t break out until after 2 pm.  Temps only made the upper 40s/low 50s due to north/northesterly flow.  We…

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  The period from Friday, January 12th through the 19th saw a major intrusion of arctic air into much of the Pacific Northwest, except for the southernmost locations like Medford. Now the cold air is gone, but the aftermath of the storms linger. I remember thinking back in November that we probably wouldn’t get a major cold wave this season…or if we did, that it would be in and out within 3-4 days. Instead, PDX has been below 40° F…

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It’s been a very stressful week for weather forecasters in the Pacific Northwest. Lots of uncertainty about the upcoming cold spell, but it’s now coming into clear focus. HIGHLIGHTS 1.  Cold air arrives tomorrow Friday! Expect east wind to arrive in Portland midday, causing temps to suddenly drop below freezing. 2.  There will be some precip tomorrow, but most of it stays south of Salem. But if anything falls over Portland it will be light snow. 3.  Serious snow arrives…

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  “…And,what happened if you watched the mountains in December, it was the lowest snow pack in decades. Ski resorts were unable to open for Christmas or even New Year. People were calling it…this winter was over. And then the weather did DUMPS – they call ‘em dumps. Big massive dumps of snow in Washington and Oregon, and all over.”   Ugh…it’s one of those nail-biting weekends in Northwest weather where we don’t know exactly what is going to happen,…

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December 2023 is now a wrap!  I’m not going to do a year-end review of 2023 tonight, but maybe later this week…. Highlights: 1.  December was extremely warm and quite wet! In fact the warmest at PDX in over 70 years. 2. We’re going to see a pattern change to cooler temperatures and lower snow levels, beginning this weekend and continuing well into the 2nd week of January.   ….Let’s take a look at December first.  There was a lot…

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Hope you all had a very happy Thanksgiving!  The weather sure has been quiet and beautiful. Yesterday Tuesday was the 6th consecutive day of mostly sunny skies for the majority of our region. Today the clouds moved back in on the west side.  Daytime temps during this dry stretch have been near normal for most of us (upper 40s / low 50s), but nights have been very cold…about the coldest we can get without any arctic air at our doorstep. …

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  Happy Fall everyone! The past two weeks have been a classic mix of autumn weather in the Pacific Northwest: periods of rain and wind, some sunny days, and seasonable temperatures mostly in the 60s and low 70s. This is quite a far cry from last year, when summer-like conditions continued into the 3rd week of October. Leaves are actually beginning to turn on time this week as a result, and peak foliage in the lowlands looks to be only…

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Pacific Northwest summers are generally boring from a weather geek’s perspective.  Apart from the occasional thunderstorm or extreme heatwave, there’s very little activity going on…other than temperature fluctuations caused by varying degrees of marine influence in the western valleys.  So I haven’t felt the need to post recently.  On a personal note…I did make it back to Central Oregon last week for the first time since November; it definitely feels like my “home away from home.”  Lots of sunshine &…

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