Thursday, March 22, 2012

All-Time Snowfall Records Fall Across Western Oregon & SW Washington

By Steve Pierce, President, Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society

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."

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory in Effect

Urban and Small Stream Flood Advisory in effect for southwest Columbia County until 5:30 PM tomorrow. If you see standing water while driving, don't risk it. Turn around. Don't drown.

Here are the full details of the advisory:

FLOOD ADVISORY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
1143 AM PDT THU MAR 15 2012

ORC003-007-009-039-041-053-057-067-071-160030-
/O.NEW.KPQR.FA.Y.0006.120315T1843Z-120316T0030Z/
/00000.N.RS.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.000000T0000Z.OO/
LANE OR-TILLAMOOK OR-CLATSOP OR-COLUMBIA OR-WASHINGTON OR-YAMHILL OR-
POLK OR-BENTON OR-LINCOLN OR-
1143 AM PDT THU MAR 15 2012

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PORTLAND HAS ISSUED AN

* URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOOD ADVISORY FOR RAIN AND POOR DRAINAGE
IN...
NORTHWESTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
SOUTHERN CLATSOP COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
SOUTHERN COLUMBIA COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
TILLAMOOK COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
WESTERN YAMHILL COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
LINCOLN COUNTY IN WESTERN OREGON...
NORTHWESTERN LANE COUNTY IN WESTERN OREGON...
WESTERN BENTON COUNTY IN WESTERN OREGON...
WESTERN POLK COUNTY IN WESTERN OREGON...

* UNTIL 530 PM PDT.

* AT 1137 AM PDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR AND TRAINED SPOTTERS HAVE REPORTED VERY HEAVY RAIN THIS MORNING ALONG THE COAST AND COAST RANGE. WEBCAMS INDICATE FLOODING OVER US 101 NEAR SEASIDE...WITH MANY SMALL STREAMS ALONG THE COAST AND COAST RANGE IN OR ABOVE BANKFULL.

WHILE PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO EASE SOMEWHAT THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...RAIN SHOWERS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE...KEEPING STREAMS RUNNING HIGH.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CAUSE PONDING OF WATER ON HIGHWAYS...STREETS AND UNDERPASSES...IN URBAN AREAS WITH POOR OR OVERWHELMED DRAINAGE...AND WILL ALSO CAUSE ELEVATED LEVELS ON SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS.

DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Snow May Resume Tonight (3/13) Through Tomorrow Morning

NOAA has issued a winter weather advisory from 3 AM tonight into noon tomorrow for certain areas of the county. Please read the full text of the advisory below.

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM TO NOON PDT
WEDNESDAY FOR THE WILLAPA HILLS OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND THE
NORTH OREGON COAST RANGE...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PORTLAND HAS ISSUED A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 3 AM TO NOON
PDT WEDNESDAY.

* TIMING...SNOW WILL DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT AND CONTINUE THROUGH
WEDNESDAY MORNING.

* SNOW ACCUMULATION...IN THE WILLAPA HILLS EXPECT 2 TO 5 INCHES OF
NEW SNOW. IN THE NORTH OREGON COAST RANGE EXPECT 2 TO 4 INCHES
OF NEW SNOW.

* SNOW LEVELS...BELOW 1000 FEET EARLY WEDNESDAY WILL RISE TO ABOVE
2500 FEET BY NOON WEDNESDAY.

* IMPACTS...ROADS WILL BECOME SNOW COVERED AND ICY...CREATING
HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW
WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW
COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND USE CAUTION WHILE
DRIVING.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Snow Possible Tonight (3/12) into Tomorrow Morning (3/13)

The National Weather Service has issued a special weather statement regarding the possibility of snow at levels as low as 500 feet.

Please read below for the full statement.

ORZ001-005>009-014-WAZ021>023-039-131900-
NORTH OREGON COAST-LOWER COLUMBIA-GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA- CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY-SOUTH WILLAMETTE VALLEY- WESTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE-UPPER HOOD RIVER VALLEY- SOUTH WASHINGTON COAST-I-5 CORRIDOR IN COWLITZ COUNTY- GREATER VANCOUVER AREA- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ASTORIA...CANNON BEACH...TILLAMOOK...
ST. HELENS
...CLATSKANIE...HILLSBORO...PORTLAND...OREGON CITY... GRESHAM...SALEM...MCMINNVILLE...DALLAS...EUGENE...CORVALLIS... ALBANY...HOOD RIVER...CASCADE LOCKS...MULTNOMAH FALLS... PARKDALE...ODELL...RAYMOND...LONG BEACH...CATHLAMET...LONGVIEW... KELSO...CASTLE ROCK...STEVENSON...SKAMANIA...VANCOUVER... BATTLE GROUND...WASHOUGAL

...LOW SNOW LEVELS VERY LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON...

IN THE WAKE OF THE VERY STRONG PACIFIC FRONTAL SYSTEM THAT WAS MOVING THROUGH ON MONDAY...COLDER AIR WILL SPREAD IN AND WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF VERY LOW SNOW LEVELS TO THE LOWER ELEVATIONS OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON VERY LATE MONDAY NIGHT AND ON TUESDAY MORNING.

SNOW LEVELS COULD GET CLOSE TO 500 FEET OR LOWER TUESDAY MORNING... AND POSSIBLY CLOSE TO THE VALLEY FLOOR IN BRIEF HEAVIER SHOWERS. AMOUNTS AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS AROUND THE VALLEY SUCH AS THE WEST HILLS OF PORTLAND COULD SEE SOME ONE OR LOCALLY TWO INCH ACCUMULATIONS. AMOUNTS AT THE VALLEY FLOOR SHOULD BE SPOTTY AND LIGHTER.