Hard to believe that just two weeks ago, we were talking about 99-degree heat over Memorial Day Weekend. A deep marine layer and “June Gloom” has settled in over the Pacific Northwest. Two days ago there was snow at Crater Lake as a chilly low-pressure moved through southern Oregon. That opened the door to a heavy surge of west wind yesterday, as the low exited to the east. The peak gust was 47 mph at the airport in Dallesport –…
It’s late and I’m exhausted so I’ll keep this one short and image-free. Anyway…our Memorial Weekend heatwave got cut short two days early, west of the Cascades – and 1 1/2 days early in the Gorge. When the wind shifted back to westerly early this afternoon, temps briefly jumped up to 99 degrees at DLS airport! Then late in the afternoon there was a sudden buildup of clouds as thunder cells over the Cascades began to migrate north and northeast….
We just finished one 5-day stretch of temps 80+ each day, including two days in the 90s. After a brief cooldown tomorrow into Thursday, it looks like the “Early Summer” weather is going to return for Memorial Weekend and perhaps beyond. Pacific Northwesterners normally snicker, every time someone mentions the beginning of summertime at Memorial Day. In MOST years the holiday weekend is very clearly part of our spring season, NOT summer. In the case of The Dalles, the normal…
Whew…how was that rainy, cold weather on Tuesday?!? The Dalles officially registered a high temp of 59, but it was in the low 50s for most of the day with heavy showers and hail at times. (Normal high for May 16, is 73 degrees F.) What’s more, Timberline Lodge recorded 28″ of new snow! There was heavy snow over Government Camp and even a couple inches at Cooper Spur Resort, roughly 3400′ elevation. Pretty damn unusual for the 3rd week…
Our consistently soggy and cool spring in the Pacific Northwest, has begun to break just a little bit. (Key term is “a little bit” as we will see!) Last Tuesday, May 2, The Dalles saw its first 70-degree high at the local airport. This broke the record from May 1, 1970 for latest first occurrence. The next day, May 3, was our first 80+ in The Dalles (86) and both the first 70 AND first 80 at Portland Airport, at…
Well…that was sure a depressing start to May! A high of only 60 degrees in The Dalles with cloud cover, and 54 at PDX. It was a rather cool weekend as well, though yesterday was quite a bit sunnier. I actually got cold yesterday evening at a potluck and bonfire party in White Salmon. About 50-52 degrees at 8:30pm there, with a biting wind. The last two years we did this, it was much warmer with evening temps probably close…
What a wet spring it’s been! After getting more than double the normal rainfall for March, we’ve pulled it off again for April. As of the 28th, 1.65″ have fallen at DLS, with little chance of more between now and Sunday night. That will make this the 3rd wettest April in airport history. More to the point: this spring has been consistently dreary and drippy, with many more rainy days than normal, very few sunny days, and NO warm spells. …
We are now well into the second half of the month of April, and there have still been no 70-degree days at Columbia Gorge Municipal Airport, also known as DLS. A little over a week ago, we celebrated the “Latest 65” milestone. Assuming we make it through tomorrow with no 70 (nearly certain), then we will be guaranteed at least the 3rd latest 70 on record, since the spring of 1949. It’s most bizarre that this is happening in what…
So the final numbers are in for the month of March. As you all know, it’s been a pretty toasty one this year, but I had no idea exactly HOW toasty. Our average temperature at DLS was 52.9 degrees F, with a high of 65.3 and low of 40.5! That blows away the old record from 1968 (52.0), and it’s a full 1.5 degrees warmer than March 2015. Most amazing of all was the fact that we had a seven-day…
March 2017 has been extremely wet across the Pacific Northwest, but it hasn’t been particularly cold. My forecast for strong, 2009/2012-esque cold departures ended up busting completely, and temps are running very close to normal for the month. HOWEVER…our extremely cold and snowy winter has continued to cast its shadow over early spring. Cold temps in January and February meant that the tree sap and flower buds weren’t able to get the kind of “jump start” they can pull off…