Karl's Weather Discussions

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…

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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). …

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After a very stormy couple of weeks for the Pacific Northwest, the weather is calming down this Friday evening.  It’s always refreshing to see weather geeks get back into “storm mode” each fall, and last week surely didn’t disappoint!  We had multiple atmospheric rivers pummel the West Coast, from Vancouver Island all the way south to San Francisco…where many locations broke their all-time 24-hour rainfall records. Several locations set their all time 24hr rainfall total between 1:00 AM PDT 10/24/2021…

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It’s October and the weather is just about as boring as it can get.  Other than relatively chilly temps and the possibility of snow over the Cascade passes the next couple days, there’s nothing meteorologically or seasonally interesting going on:  no atmospheric rivers, no Indian summers, and no big early-season freezes either. One thing that’s perfectly normal and iconic about October in Western Oregon and Washington, is the arrival of valley fog.  We already had a couple foggy mornings in…

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After one heavy rain event during the 3rd weekend of September, the Pacific Northwest is currently wrapping up a second wet spell.  This one was not quite as wet for most of the Portland metro area; however, it was definitely more “stormy” as weather nerds would define it.  We had a particularly massive downpour yesterday (Monday) from a squall line that moved through the area around 4pm.  I was working indoors when it happened; but could hear the heavy raindrops…

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Hard to believe we’re only a few hours away from the first heavy rain event in Portland, since last winter!  It’s been an incredibly dry 6 1/2 months; our spring (March-May) was by far the driest on record, and we’ve seen less than one-tenth an inch of measurable rain at PDX since mid-June!  Many trees are going to be stressed by this unusually dry growing season; I can see that a number of oak and maple trees have already begun…

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Hopefully you were able to make the most out of this chaotic and hot summer!  While I didn’t get to go storm chasing or camping or any “top tier” activities, I did get in several one- to two-day trips, including three visits to the Oregon Coast, a memorable road trip to Crater Lake, and an overnight stay in Seattle.  I also endured one of the two hottest summers in Portland’s history, roughly on par with the historic summer of 2015.  …

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Hopefully everyone here has been able to enjoy the (mostly) smoke-free weather in Northwest Oregon and SW Washington this summer!  Sadly, I’ve been having knee problems ever since the beginning of July, limiting my mobility to a fair extent.  But I still managed to get out and enjoy it within reason. Last weekend I was at the Oregon coast (again!), this time in Oceanside and Pacific City exclusively.  Fellow weather blogger Charlie Phillips knows that area well thanks to some…

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I sincerely hope you are all safe during this mother of all heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest!  Today is the third consecutive day that PDX will set an all-time record high temperature. Saturday we hit 108 ⁰ F, which beat the record of 107 from August 1981 and July 1965.  I was in town all day and it was truly miserable, especially given that dewpoints were in the mid to upper 60s for most of the evening and night. Then yesterday…

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For the past several days, there has been much speculation about the upcoming heatwave for the last weekend of June.  Would it be just “really really hot,” or would this prove to be the MOTHER OF ALL HEATWAVES for the Pacific Northwest? Now, two days before the event begins, we appear to have an answer:  Yes, the June 2021 heatwave will probably be the hottest temperatures that northwest Oregon and SW Washington have ever seen (at least in the last couple…

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