Vancouver, Washington (March 22nd 2012) – “Many cities across Western Oregon and Southwest Washington are setting all-time cold and snowfall records for this late in the season. Since Tuesday night, the Willamette Valley has been blanketed with anywhere from 2″ to 9″ of snow from Vancouver, WA. south to Eugene, Oregon.
Since Tuesday evening, many all-time March snowfall and temperature records have been broken up and down the Willamette Valley at airport locations. Portland, Salem, Eugene and Vancouver, WA. airports all set new coldest daytime high temperature records on Wednesday in addition to setting new all-time records for the heaviest snowfall this late in the season. Eugene, Oregon easily broke their maximum daily precipitation record for Wednesday with 1.92 inches with equated to a record setting 7.5″ of snowfall on Wednesday.”
“The Portland International Airport recorded 0.5″ of snowfall overnight last night which sets a new all-time record for that location. March 22nd 2012 will now go down in the record books as the latest measurable snowfall in Portland Airport history. The period of record at the Portland airport is 1940-2012.
The previous latest snowfall on record for the Portland airport was set on March 15th 1946. The excellent staff at the Portland office of the National Weather Service have reviewed daily records that previously indicated both March 20th 1995 and March 25th 1965 as the latest dates for measurable snowfall in Portland.
These reports were in fact hail, not snow! Hail was often reported under the snow column on the record sheets. Looking even further back, downtown Portland records indicate that as much as 5″ of snow fell in the first week of April in 1936. Records in downtown Portland date back to 1872. It is hard to believe that spring break is just 24 hours away for Oregon students.”
###
Image added by Anthony – source: http://www.nohrsc.noaa.gov/nsa/index.html?year=2012&month=3&day=22&units=e®ion=Northwest
Info/PR from: Steve Pierce President, Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society
Oregon AMS web site: http://www.ametsoc.org/chapters/oregon/
E-mail: stevejpierce at comcast.net Phone: 503-504-2075
Here’s the official NWS record:
=================
RERPQR
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON
840 AM PDT THU MAR 22 2012
...RECORD SETTING LATE SNOW EVENT FOR MUCH OF WILLAMETTE AND LOWER
COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEY AREA OVER THE LAST 36 HOURS...
A FRONT STALLED OVER SOUTH LANE AND NORTH DOUGLAS COUNTY TUESDAY
NIGHT...THEN LIFTED NORTH A BIT BEFORE HEADING EAST OF THE
CASCADES. HEAVY PRECIPITATION FELL ACROSS THE REGION...BUT NORTH OF
THE FRONT SNOW LEVELS WERE VERY LOW...WITH HEAVY SNOW THE RESULT IN
THE SOUTH AND CENTRAL VALLEY YESTERDAY...AND THE CENTRAL AND NORTH
WILLAMETTE VALLEY INTO CLARK COUNTY OVERNIGHT. HEAVY SNOW ALSO FELL
IN THE CASCADES DURING THIS TIME PERIOD...WITH 1 TO 3 FEET OF SNOW
OVER THE HIGHER CASCADES.
WITH THE HEAVY WET SNOW...MANY AREAS HAVE EXPERIENCED DOWNED POWER
LINES RESULTING IN SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES. IN ADDITION...MANY TREE
BRANCHES HAVE BEEN BROKEN BY THE WEIGHT OF THE WET SNOW. THIS EVENT
WILL BE ONE THAT LOCAL RESIDENTS WILL NOT SOON FORGET.
=============================================================
ACROSS CITY OF PORTLAND... 0.5 TO 3 INCHES...BUT 3 TO 7 INCHES
OVER THE HIGHER HILLS OF THE METRO AREA.
AT PORTLAND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE (NEAR THE AIRPORT)...
*** STORM TOTAL.... 0.5 INCH OF SNOW
THIS IS A RECORD LATEST MEASURED SNOWFALL AT THE AIRPORT.
** 2012 MARCH 22 0.5 INCH *** NEW RECORD ***
1946 MARCH 15 0.5 INCH PREVIOUS RECORD
RECORDS SHOW 0.4 INCH IN 1995 AND 0.3 INCH IN 1965...BUT BOTH OF
THESE EVENTS WERE SMALL HAIL ACCUMULATIONS.
HERE IS HOW IT COMPARES TO OTHER LATE SEASON SNOW EVENTS
(WITH STORM TOTALS).
** 2012 MARCH 21-22 0.5 INCHES
1950 MARCH 10 0.8 INCH
1951 MARCH 3-10 12.9 INCHES
1956 MARCH 5 1.8 INCHES
1960 MARCH 2-3 2.6 INCHES
1989 MARCH 1-2 2.0 INCHES
OF NOTE... DOWNTOWN PORTLAND HAS RECEIVED MEASURABLE SNOW IN
APRIL...WITH THE LARGEST EVENT OCCURRING IN 1936 WHEN 5.2 INCHES
FELL ON APRIL 1...WITH THAT STORM TOTAL OF 6.8 INCHES (MARCH 28
THROUGH APRIL 1). THE LATEST THAT DOWNTOWN HAS RECEIVED MEASURABLE
SNOW WAS APRIL 14 1924...WHEN 0.1 INCH OF SNOW FELL IN DOWNTOWN
PORTLAND.
ON AVERAGE...PORTLAND AIRPORT RECEIVES 0.2 INCH OF SNOW IN MARCH.
SNOWFALL RECORDS AT THE AIRPORT DATE BACK TO 1940. DOWNTOWN RECORDS
DATE BACK TO 1872.
=============================================================
CITY OF EUGENE... 6 TO 10 INCHES...HEAVIEST IN SOUTH HILLS.
AT THE EUGENE AIRPORT...
*** STORM TOTAL.... 7.5 INCHES OF SNOW
THIS IS THE BIGGEST SNOWSTORM TO STRIKE THE EUGENE AREA THIS LATE
IN THE WINTER SEASON. HERE IS HOW IT COMPARES TO OTHER RECORD LATE
SNOWFALLS OF THE WINTER SEASON (WITH STORM TOTALS).
** 2012 MARCH 20-21 7.5 INCHES
1951 MARCH 5-7 7.6 INCHES
1916 MARCH 3-4 13.7 INCHES
HOWEVER...IT IS NOT THE LATEST MEASURED SNOWFALL. THE LATEST
MEASURABLE SNOWFALL OF THE WINTER SEASON AT THE EUGENE AIRPORT...
1911 APRIL 13 0.3 INCH
ON AVERAGE...EUGENE RECEIVES 0.5 INCH OF SNOW IN MARCH.
RECORDS FOR EUGENE DATE BACK TO 1892.
=============================================================
AROUND THE CITY OF SALEM... 2 TO 7 INCHES OF SNOW FELL...
WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS ON THE HILLS IN SOUTH SALEM.
AT THE SALEM AIRPORT...
**** STORM TOTAL.... 2.5 INCHES OF SNOW
THIS IS THE BIGGEST SNOWSTORM TO STRIKE SALEM THIS LATE IN
THE WINTER SEASON. HERE IS HOW IT COMPARES TO OTHER RECORD
LATE SNOWFALLS OF THE WINTER SEASON (WITH STORM TOTALS).
** 2012 MARCH 21-22 2.5 INCHES
1951 MARCH 5-9 9.6 INCHES
1960 MARCH 3-4 8.5 INCHES
BUT THIS IS NOT THE LATEST MEASURED SNOWFALL. THE LATEST
MEASURABLE SNOW EVENTS OF THE WINTER SEASON AT SALEM AIRPORT...
1920 MARCH 31 1.5 INCHES
ON AVERAGE...SALEM RECEIVES 0.3 INCH OF SNOW IN MARCH.
RECORDS FOR SALEM DATE BACK TO 1892.
===============================================================
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And here in southern New England we’re hitting 80 degrees with little spring rain.
Does this mean more snow melt and runn off that will be diverted away from the irrigation farming?
OK, but this won’t make the MSNBC front page. Too inconvenient.
Wow! Two to nine inches of global warming!
La Nina started work about six weeks late this winter, so she needs six weeks at the end to finish her job.
Memo to Mother Nature: It’s spring darn it! What’s this white stuff on my flowers?
Anchorage, Alaska, is within striking distance:
http://pafc.arh.noaa.gov/pubfcst.php?fcst=NOAK48PAFC
Perhaps this weekend:
http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?zoneid=AKZ101
The good news is that the jet stream has shifted back north to the US-Canada border, where it continues on up towards Labrador. Perhaps that will help moderate the weather in the west.
Meanwhile, thanks to that jet stream, Buffalo yesterday had an all time high for the month of March of 82°F. We’ve already had a string of over 10 days of above 60°F high temps, compared to the normal high temp of approx 45°F. Of course, since this is just weather, there’s nothing to prevent the jet stream from developing another wiggle and sending us a blast of cold air and two feet of snow for Easter Sunday.
Global cooling is a threat to our way of life.
Children are just never going to experience what it was like before snow days!!!
Here in in Western Canada we have so much snow (Great skiing /snow boarding) that last night the Government put out a flood advisory for the spring melt off. The snow amount and depth is very similar to the 1970s on the coast mountain range.
I drove home in a pretty good flurry last night. I’m at 300 feet elevation. Had over an inch on the ground this morning! Had my anti-lock breaks kick in entering the parking lot at work. Looks like a lot of people are tele-commuting today.
Had an inch of wet snow on the ground at 6:00am this morning. Still have snow in the shaded areas of the lawn at 11:00am. Located near Fairwood WA, between Renton and Maple Valley, at 560 ft feet above mean sea level. (I’m ‘down’ today, with an incredibly sore throat.) Outside temp 39F, calm, with broken overcast.
We have had far more snowfall days here this winter than I have experienced in the 14 years I have lived here. Over the last 3 weeks, we’ve had snowfalls on 2 – 3 days each week. We are averaging 10F below normal temps for much of February and all of March, so far. The extended forecast says we may hit low 50F next week for daily highs, when average daily highs for this time of year have been high 50’s. I’ll believe it when I feel it!
Areas of the Cascades (Mt. Baker, Snoqualmie Pass, etc) have recorded huge snow fall totals over the last 3 weeks. Mt. Baker is reporting +15 feet for March 1 – 20.
Related to the snow accumulation…
The average of both poles’ global sea ice area is still increasing and rising above the 1979-2008 mean.
I have been calculating the sea ice areas as a percent above or below the 79-08 mean for both poles and averaging them to get a single number.
18mar the average was 103.28 % above the mean
22mar the average is 104.05 % above the mean
The number is currently increasing.
This could be a quick glance indicator to show total ice stability related to the average.
“Many cities across Western Oregon and Southwest Washington are setting all-time cold and snowfall records for this late in the season”
This just can’t be happening, I have watched the weather channel and saw nothing on record cold or snow. In fact they had a fancy graphic on TV and spent 2 minutes talking about… ‘potential record highs’.
/s
Meanwhile in Atlanta, GA we’ve had a very mild winter. The temperature was over 80F (27C) for the St. Patrick’s Day parade March 17th. I’m not used to weather this nice for St. Pat’s (great crown turnout BTW). On the other hand, we just set an all-time high for pollen count this last Monday: over 8,000! (for tree pollen, anything over 1,500 is ranked “very high”).
Interesting times …
Make that “great crowd turnout” above — as far as I know there were no members of the royal family in attendance, but we did have the consul general for Ireland.
“This just can’t be happening, I have watched the weather channel and saw nothing on record cold or snow. In fact they had a fancy graphic on TV and spent 2 minutes talking about… ‘potential record highs. . . . . . .”
Ha! . . living here in Salem, Oregon I can tell you that we had five inches of “potential record highs” last night. In case you’re wondering, “potential record highs” happen to be bright white and cover the ground quite nicely.
I live on a hill at about 400 feet elevation in Salem; this morning about 4 am it was incredibly beautiful with the street lights reflecting off the snow and lighting up the low layer clouds.
According to weather.com, over 4,300 record highs have been compiled in March, and nt small ones — by eight to ten degrees. Any plans for a post about this?
REPLY: Why, is there a dearth of coverage about it in the press? We cover things here that are often ignored by the MSM, I doubt my coverage would make any difference since it has been widely covered already. Try to find any mention of this story about WA and OR anywhere else and let me know if you find any in those outlets that covered the record highs. – Anthony
So, was it the low amount of arctic ice which caused this snow? ‘Cause last I checked we’re right at an 7-8 year high in extent.
According to the BEST QC data (latest release) Portland Airport has been cooling since around 1988.
On the other hand, you had 30C on the east coast a few days ago – in freakin’ March, or so the story goes on German news.
“Mercury poles give up hints of water ice”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17470151
Interesting
Don’t you know ANYTHING? This is exactly what you’d expect to see with global warming! Duh.
(or so I was told last week)
http://www4b.wolframalpha.com/Calculate/MSP/MSP43231a0h19b1c5b3b36300002b3g6f0ibbaeg956?MSPStoreType=image/gif&s=20&w=475&h=157&cdf=Resizeable
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=portland+pdx+temperature