Friday, May 23, 2008
NOWCAST- Clouds, showers Friday and a chance all through the long holiday weekend. Humid weather with even a thunder boomer is possible Sat/Sun. Cool Friday, warmer Sat/Sun/Mon into 70's.Snow down to 5,000 feet today, it is snowing in some east side locations in Oregon Friday. Not a total washout all weekend but not a hot one either. Showers could pop up any time.
OUTCAST - The following is from an e-mail from local weather specialist Steve Pierce of Vancouver and his reflections on this past winter, some serious, some fun, and some interesting. Okay Steve, it is your floor:
"The winter of 2007/2008 may not seem like a lot right now, but when we look back we will see some amazing things that will stand out. Some of these records may stand for decades, let alone years to come.
These are off the top of my head ---
1. Historic low barometric pressure of 28.84" (lowest since Dec 1995) with that one monster winter storm.
2. Historic late snowfall for Corvallis.
3. Historic deep snow at low elevations (1k to 4k ft).
4. Historic gas prices.
5. Historic tie in the Oregon AMS presidential race.
6. Historic La Nina with the coldest SST's ever recorded in the Pacific basin at one point this winter, in Nino 1+2.
7. Historic retirement of George Taylor.
8. Historic photographic trip down the coastline after December windstorm for Steve, Pat Timm and Wolf Read.
9. Historic snow depth at Idana and Detroit Lake. Request for federal disaster assistance for snow removal.
10. Historic winds at the coast Dec 1-3rd. 42 hours above hurricane force gusts at Lincoln City. Gusts include 125mph at Lincoln City, 129 at Bay City and 147mph at radar ridge in SW WA. WOW! Strongest since Oct 12th 1962 at coast!
11. Historic Christmas Day snowfall (most locations just south and east of PDX airport).
12. Historic number of Steve's sleepless nights, waiting for the snow that never came to Vancouver (below 400ft elev). :-(
13. Historic heat wave in May for the coast.
14. Historic and very rare January tornado in Vancouver.
15. Historic low sunspot (solar) activity.
16. Historic double snowfall events in March for PDX area.
But, by far my most memorable historic event of the past 12 months was ----- drum roll please -----
Historic shutdown (just yesterday during the heat wave) of Steve for sending too many e-mails through Comcast's mail servers. Now that is priceless! Enjoy the rest of the summer. We are only about 4 months away from the fall storms once again! Maybe we will be in a La Nada and get some very low elevation snowfall that actually sticks this time."
-- posted by Pat Timm @ 9:53 AM,
Friday, May 09, 2008
NOWCAST - Clouds increase Saturday with a risk of showers later on and on Sunday but not a great deal. Things begin to warm up by Wednesday and highs could be in the 80's later next week. Snow melt will begin in earnest. Mother's Day not the best this year, sorry.
OUTCAST- Well now that May is off and running, let's review some rainfall reports from your friends and neighbors around the region for last month. I recorded 2.37 inches here in north Salmon Creek; Pearson Field, Vancouver, 2.48 inches; Gary Collins, Brush Prairie, 3.07 inches; Claudia Chiasson, Carson, 7.51 inches; Tyler Mode, Minnehaha, 2.10 inches; Bud Maddux, Home Valley, 4.37 inches; Pete Conrad, Tukes Mountain, Battle Ground, 2.68 inches; Jim Knoll, Orchards, 3.34 inches; Bob Starr, Cougar, 9.03 inches; Robin Ruzek, Lakeshore, 2.10 inches; Phil Delany, above Dole Valley, 7.80 inches; Irv St. Germain, SW Prune Hill, 3.97 inches; Ellen Smart, Ridgefield, 2.60 inches; Larry Lebsack, NE Hazel Dell, 2.22 inches; Nancy Ellifrit, Mt. Vista, 3.95 inches; Merle Moore, two miles west of Yacolt 6.14 inches; Phil Harris, Washougal, 4.02 inches; Chuck Houghten, Hockinson Heights, 4.45 inches; Tom Brown, Westglade near Battle Ground, 2.09 inches; Dan Hein, Camas, 3.83 inches; and Murphy Dennis, Rawson Road next to Clark Rifles, 4.69 inches.To add to all of this I have weather observer Roland Derksen reporting in from Vancouver BC, the other Vancouver, that he recorded 3.49 inches last month a bit more than Vancouver USA.It was once again, another drier than average month and adds to the string of below average months since January 2007 where only one month had above average rainfall. The average mean temperature for April in our area was the coldest since April 1975. In addition, April was a fickle month with 80 degrees one weekend and snowflakes in the air several days later. April 20 was the latest snow ever as reported in Corvallis, Oregon and sticking snow was reported along the Oregon and Washington beaches.
George Taylor retired April 30th from the Oregon Climate Service and as state climatologist for Oregon. I had the honor of attending a dinner Sunday sponsored by the Oregon
Chapter of the AMS. If you would like to see photos of the event, click on the AMS link in the side panel and go to recently added items on the site. There is even one of me in there with George and a good looking young lady! And George, we all thank you for the great service you have provided to us all over the past 19 years. He may be retired from that career but has launched his own consulting service in Corvallis. Best wishes George!
-- posted by Pat Timm @ 10:02 AM,
Chapter of the AMS. If you would like to see photos of the event, click on the AMS link in the side panel and go to recently added items on the site. There is even one of me in there with George and a good looking young lady! And George, we all thank you for the great service you have provided to us all over the past 19 years. He may be retired from that career but has launched his own consulting service in Corvallis. Best wishes George!
