Pacific Northwest Weather

[Brian_from_bellingham]

Someone suggested starting a new thread, since Winter Storm Watch will not be apporpriate for awhile, so here it is.

[R-Dub]

Hey you never know, we could be under a winterstorm watch when the overriding system happens!

[TT-SEA]

To get us reset on this thread:

Can you say Pineapple Express...

Here is the 60-hour precipitation ending next Tuesday (1/18) evening (i.e. Sunday 10 a.m. through Tuesday 10 p.m.)

[TT-SEA]

And it goes on and on...

Here is the 48-hour precipitation totals immediately following the 60-hour period above (Tuesday 10 p.m. through Thursday 10 p.m.)



Add them together and you have 108-hour totals (Sunday morning through Thursday evening).

Amazing. It is going to be VERY warm and VERY wet!!

[andrewr]

If it plays out like that (and doesn't go to the north), then we should make a nice little dent in our rainfall deficit.

[TT-SEA]

God... I hope this is wrong.

But here is the NEXT 60 hours [Thursday (1/20) evening through Sunday (1/23) morning]



ENDLESS RAIN.

[TT-SEA]

It starts to spread out a little in the NEXT 60 hours beyond Sunday (1/23) but still wet.

Sunday morning (1/23) through Tuesday evening (1/25)...



10 days of heavy rain!!

[andrewr]

For some odd reason I find endless amounts of rain almost as exciting to look at as the possibility of snow. It really is amazing how exactly on Washington and Southern B.C. the track is, it's almost to perfect to be true. Something tells me we will not be seeing 6"+ of rain by next weekend, the models will vary it to the north or south part of the time.

[TT-SEA]

There is no overlapping in any of the maps I have shown here. They are all consecutive periods.

Some places could easily see 10+ inches of rain in the next 10 days!!

[AnthonyC]

Interesting note...

Currently 28 F with a dewpoint of 18 F in Bellingham...NE wind at 15mph. Arctic air is slowly moving through Puget Sound. Currently 35 F with dewpoint of 25 F in Everett...N wind at 10mph. It's still yet to be determined how much of that arctic air will make it south.

[R-Dub]

Currently 33.4 degrees and 25.7 on the Dewpoint here Anthony.

[TT-SEA]

From Portland NWS...

THE OFFSHORE FLOW WILL INTENSIFY THROUGH THE DAY AND EXPAND TO COVER MOST OF THE
FORECAST AREA BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON. BY SATURDAY MORNING WARM AND VERY
MOIST AIR FROM THE PACIFIC WILL BEGIN TO OVERRUN THIS LOW LEVEL COLD
AIR. THIS WILL LIKELY RESULT IN SIGNIFICANT ICING IN THE
PORTLAND/VANCOUVER AREA SATURDAY...SATURDAY NIGHT AND POSSIBLY SUNDAY
MORNING...WITH LESS ICING AS YOU MOVE AWAY FROM THE GORGE.
SIGNIFICANT SNOW IS LIKELY IN THE GORGE THROUGH SUNDAY...ESPECIALLY
EAST OF CASCADE LOCKS. THUS A WINTER STORM WATCH WILL BE ISSUED FOR
THE NORTHERN AND CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY AND INTERIOR PORTIONS OF
SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON FOR FREEZING RAIN...AND THE NORTHERN OREGON
CASCADES AND GORGE FOR HEAVY SNOW FOR SATURDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.

[AnthonyC]

That doesn't necessarily mean Western Washington will get ice/snow. Portland has an interesting microclimate that allows arctic air to filter from Eastern Oregon. It's kind of like Bellingham, but can be more extreme. I wouldn't be surprised if they were stuck in that pattern until Sunday night...once the offshore flow increase through the Gorge, it's hard to turn it off. It might be 45 degrees in Eugene, yet 31 in Portland. Same as Bellingham...it might be 40 degrees in Everett, but 29 degrees in Bellingham. Those microclimates are very interesting to study.

[R-Dub]

They get some mighty good icing conditions down in that area! Seems like just about every year.
Cooling quickly here now.

1/13/05 LK Goodwin WA
3:28:52 PM CURRENT
Mostly Cloudy
Temperature (ºF) 32.7
Humidity (%) 68.5
Wind (mph) N 0.0
Daily Rain (") 0.00
Pressure ("Hg) 30.36
Dew Point: 24.5 ºF

[R-Dub]

Anthony typically when there is winter weather down in Portland area, there is usually enough cold air intrenched here also for mainly a overrunning snow event. Just from my memory over the yrs.

WINTER STORM WATCH FOR PORTLAND AND AREA

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
239 PM PST THU JAN 13 2005

ORZ003-005>007-009>011-WAZ019-020-022-023-039-040-140628-
CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY-COAST RANGE OF NORTHWEST OREGON-
GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA-GREATER VANCOUVER AREA-LOWER COLUMBIA-
LOWER COLUMBIA AND I - 5 CORRIDOR IN COWLITZ COUNTY-
NORTHERN OREGON CASCADE FOOTHILLS-NORTHERN OREGON CASCADES-
SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADE FOOTHILLS-SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADES-
WESTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE-WILLAPA HILLS-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...BATTLE GROUND...CASCADE LOCKS..
CASTLE ROCK...COLDWATER RIDGE VISITORS CENTER...COUGAR...DALLAS..
DETROIT...DOWNTOWN PORTLAND...DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER...FRANCES..
GOVERNMENT CAMP...HILLSBORO...HOOD RIVER...JEWELL...LONGVIEW..
MCMINNVILLE...MILL CITY...MOUNT ST. HELENS...OREGON CITY...SALEM..
SANDY...ST. HELENS...STEVENSON...SWEET HOME...TOUTLE AND VERNONIA
239 PM PST THU JAN 13 2005

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE FRIDAY NIGHT TO SUNDAY
AFTERNOON FOR THE CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY...THE COAST RANGE OF
NORTHWEST OREGON...THE GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA...THE GREATER
VANCOUVER AREA...THE LOWER COLUMBIA...THE LOWER COLUMBIA AND I - 5
CORRIDOR IN COWLITZ COUNTY...THE NORTHERN OREGON CASCADE FOOTHILLS..
THE NORTHERN OREGON CASCADES...THE SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADE
FOOTHILLS...THE SOUTH WASHINGTON CASCADES...THE WESTERN COLUMBIA
RIVER GORGE AND THE WILLAPA HILLS..

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PORTLAND HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM
WATCH FOR SNOW AND FREEZING RAIN FOR LATE FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH
SATURDAY AND SUNDAY. THE WATCH COVERS THE INLAND PORTIONS OF
SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND FROM THE COAST RANGE EASTWARD IN NORTHWEST
OREGON...FROM THE CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY NORTH. THIS INCLUDES THE
WESTERN COLUMBIA GORGE.

COLD DRY AIR IS FORECAST TO SPREAD THROUGH THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE
INTO SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON ON FRIDAY. THEN
MOISTURE FROM AN APPROACHING WARMER MOIST PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEM WILL
SPREAD PRECIPITATION INTO THE AREA BEGINNING LATER FRIDAY
NIGHT...CONTINUING SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY.

THE PRECIPITATION MAY START AS SNOW FRIDAY NIGHT AND EARLY
SATURDAY...WITH LOCALLY AN INCH OR TWO POSSIBLE IN THE LOWER
ELEVATIONS...6 INCHES OR MORE IN THE EASTERN GORGE...AND UP TO A FOOT
IN THE HIGHER CASCADES. THE PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO THEN CHANGE
OVER TO FREEZING RAIN OVER MUCH OF THE LOWER ELEVATIONS WEST OF THE
CASCADES ON SATURDAY AS WARMER AIR ALOFT SPREADS OVER THE LOW LEVEL
COLD AIR.

THE FREEZING RAIN WILL PROBABLY TRANSITION TO RAIN SUNDAY...THOUGH
THE FREEZING RAIN MAY PERSIST IN THE COLUMBIA GORGE AND AREAS
IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO THE GORGE.

REMEMBER...A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS HAZARDOUS WINTER WEATHER
CONDITIONS SUCH AS HEAVY SNOW...SLEET...FREEZING RAIN AND EXTREME
WIND CHILLS ARE FAVORABLE IN AND CLOSE TO THE WATCH AREA IN THE NEXT
48 HOURS...BUT ARE NOT IMMINENT.

$$

WEATHER.GOV/PORTLAND

[TT-SEA]

Could be fun up north on Sunday.

From the Seattle NWS...

THE PRECIP WILL START MOVING NORTHWARD SATURDAY NIGHT WITH THICKNESS AND H8 TEMPS RISING...SO FOR
THE MOST PART EXPECT RAIN IN THE LOWLANDS...BUT THIS IS A TRICKY
SITUATION AND WILL NEED TO BE MONITORED CLOSELY. A PERIOD OF SNOW
NOT UNLIKELY AS WE ENTER THIS PATTERN CHANGE. FOR THE NW
INTERIOR...WITH COLD FRAZIER WILL HAVE SNOW WELL INTO SUNDAY AND
POSSIBLY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT BEFORE IT SWITCHES TO RAIN.

[R-Dub]

Its funny how just yesterday morning, forecasts and models said dry for western wa through first of next week. Now we could have a high wind in the foothills, snow, ice, and flooding for western wa next week!

[R-Dub]

Did you guys see the footage from Denver on the news today? Car after car slamming into eachother on a snowy hill. A couple of women jumped out of there car as it was sliding! A great way to get runover! I though people there knew how to drive in winter weather! Must have been a bunch of Western WA transplants!

Temp still dropping here, down to 32.0 degrees.

[TT-SEA]

My hometown weather... kinda glad I left.

http://www.kstp.com/article/3/

[W13]

Still looking like we could see some snow Saturday Night, along with some freezing rain also possible. At least NWS is saying the situation has to be watched closely, so they think that something may come of this.