The Third Act in the Snow Drama. Plus Freezing Rain Around Portland

 This snow drama was always going to to be in three acts.    The first was a teaser, the second was the main act, and the third will be the transition from snow to rain.

The second act brought substantial snow to the region, particularly from 11 PM Friday through 9 AM this morning.  Here are a few reports from this morning...and keep in mind that many had another inch or two after these reports.

Around 15 inches near Olympia.  12 inches at Ocean shores.    Seattle reaches 8 to 11 inches.

Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Seattle WA
1236 PM PST Sat Feb 13 2021

..SNOWFALL REPORTS...

Location                     Amount    Time/Date       Lat/Lon/Elev (ft.)
Carbonado                    18.0 in   1041 AM 02/13   47.08N/122.05W
9 WNW Alder                  16.0 in   1016 AM 02/13   46.83N/122.47W
3 N Olympia                  15.5 in   1135 AM 02/13   47.09N/122.89W
2 N Tanglewilde-Thomps       15.0 in   1118 AM 02/13   47.08N/122.77W
2 NNE Melbourne              15.0 in   1027 AM 02/13   46.98N/123.61W
Olympia                      14.0 in   0950 AM 02/13   47.04N/122.89W
2 ESE Graham                 14.0 in   1119 AM 02/13   47.05N/122.26W
5 SE Roy                     14.0 in   0932 AM 02/13   46.94N/122.47W
4 SSE Rainier                13.0 in   1042 AM 02/13   46.84N/122.64W
2 SE Tanglewilde-Thomps      13.0 in   0855 AM 02/13   47.03N/122.75W
6 N Tanglewilde-Thomps       12.5 in   1000 AM 02/13   47.14N/122.80W
7 NW Dupont                  12.5 in   1117 AM 02/13   47.18N/122.76W
5 S Vaughn                   12.5 in   0909 AM 02/13   47.28N/122.77W
6 S Port Orchard             12.5 in   1206 PM 02/13   47.45N/122.66W
9 W Alder                    12.0 in   1037 AM 02/13   46.82N/122.48W
1 SSE Lacey                  12.0 in   1001 AM 02/13   47.03N/122.80W
1 NNE Stanwood               12.0 in   1110 AM 02/13   48.26N/122.34W
1 NE Bellevue                12.0 in   0745 AM 02/13   47.62N/122.19W
Ocean Shores                 12.0 in   0930 AM 02/13   46.97N/124.16W

A snowfall map for the last 24 hr from the National Weather Service shows the heaviest amounts between Portland and Olympia (as much as 15-20 inches), with 8-12 inches extending to the central Sound.  Lighter amounts (4-6 inches) over Northwest WA.  

The forecast models were not bad, but overplayed the east-west differences.  I will be looking into this deficiency during the next few weeks (one of my projects is to improve precipitation prediction by numerical models).    

style="color: #2288bb; font-size: 15.4px; text-decoration-line: none;">https://knkxcancel.blogspot.com/2021/02/knkx-and-cancel-culture.html

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why so little lightning in the Pacific Northwest? And a very nice weekend ahead.

Image
During the past 24-hours, there have been a few lightning strokes over the region (see below) but nothing to write home about (see below). It turns out that the Pacific Northwest and the remainder of the West Coast have some of the lowest frequencies of thunderstorms in the entire country (see below). But why?    My podcast provides the answer. And I also give the weekend forecast....and I think most will like what I have to say. To listen to my podcast, use the link below or access it through your favorite podcast service. Some major podcast servers:     Like the podcast? Support on Patreon 
Read more

The Time of Year You Can See the Air Move

Image
  Most of the time, you can not see the air move.   You can feel it, but the complex, turbulent motions are invisible to you, except when it interacts with leaves and branches on trees and plants. But for a few weeks of the year, the sky is full of small, cotton-like tuffs that like a natural MRI machine reveals the complex three-dimensional motions of the atmosphere.   Cottonwood season.  And we right in the middle of it.   Being cottonwood aware is of particular value this year.  It reveals the active dispersion and movement of air that makes the outdoors essentially COVID safe, and thus should be of some comfort for those nervous about transmission outside. Cottonwood seeds are embedded in small cotton-like fibers.   A million seeds weigh about 3 pounds.  Yes, each seed and tuff weights about .000003 pounds.   And that fact, plus the cottonwood tuff, means that these seeds fall VERY, VERY, VERY slowly.   So slowly that they are excellent markers for the three-dimensional flow of the
Read more

A Much Colder Than Normal April: But How Unusual?

Image
  April was a chilly month over the Northwest, but how chilly?     It turns out the answer depends on where you are located. The difference between this April's temperatures from normal across Washington State (below) shows that the entire state was well below normal.  The eastern side of the state was particularly frigid:  some areas were more than 6 degrees below normal.   Considering the west side of the state, the April mean temperatures at SeaTac Airport are plotted below.   This April was the coolest since 2011. April 2020 was in 15th place for the coolest April since the mid-1940s and was a bit more than 4F below normal.  So if you felt that you were cheated out of normal spring warmth...you are right. But if you really wanted to experience extraordinary April cold you had to be east of the Cascade crest. Consider Yakima.  Wow.  It had the third coldest April temperature since the mid-1940s.   And the all-time record in 1955 was only slightly colder. If you want a longer-te
Read more