A Very Cool (and Snowy) April

This may well end up as one of the coolest mid-Aprils in Northwest history.

One sign was the great Portland snowstorm of April 11th, where several areas around Portland received 2-6 inches of wet snow.   Branches were broken around the region, leading to nearly 40,000 people losing power.

A Portland sidestreet.  Picture taken by Justin Sharp

A backyard with roughly 6 inches of snow.  Courtesy Justin Sharp.

The temperatures the last few days have been record-cold throughout the region.  

Consider the temperatures at Seattle and Kelso-Longview in western Washington for the past four days (see below-normal highs shown in purple and normal lows are cyan).  Temperatures were 10-15 degrees below normal, with some days the HIGHS are near the normal lows.  January in April.



The forecasts for the next few weeks are EXTREMELY cool.  

Below is the forecast anomaly (difference from normal) for surface temperature over the region. 

Can't believe it.  Vast portions of our region are 10 degrees or more below normal (green colors).

The next five days?  Still below normal (blue colors).



And expect bountiful snow in the mountains.  The latest forecast is going for as much as TWO FEET more snowfall in the Cascades and mountains of BC.    Even the northern Sierra Nevada gets a piece of the snow action.


Snowpack is near normal right now around Washington...it will soon be above normal.

Why all the cold and snow?    A very persistent trough of low pressure aloft above our region, something illustrated by the anomaly map (difference from normal) of upper-level heights (like pressure).  The purple indicates much lower pressure than normal aloft.

This may well end up as one of the coolest mid A Very Cool (and Snowy) April


You Won't Believe This

It is hard to believe it, but some folks are suggesting our cold, snowy weather of late is due to global warming (climate change).  

Completely baseless.  Global warming REDUCES cold waves and cold weather. Don't believe that someone can suggest the opposite?  Check out the Vancouver Columbian (below).

Talk about irresponsible journalism   Heat Wave:  Climate Change.  Cold Wave:  Climate Change.  Lack of Snow:  Climate Change.  Too Much Snow: Climate Change.

This may well end up as one of the coolest mid A Very Cool (and Snowy) April
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