6:45pm Update…
Rain has been VERY light so far, with steadier precipitation up north near Longview. We’re seeing scattered showers right now mainly developing on the east side of the metro area. I see several moving right over the Western Gorge with temps at 31 in Corbett, 29 at Vista House, and 28 at Cape Horn. Anything that falls out there will freeze on contact; drive carefully the rest of the night! Showers will pick up the next few hours too adding to a general glaze coating on all objects. We’ll see if it goes to snow from Cascade Locks eastward the next few hours when the showers arrive.
Once again, it’ll be too warm in the metro area for freezing rain.
Did you see the TV tower temp jump the past few hours? At 1,800′ it went from 30.5 degrees at 2:30pm to 41 degrees at 5pm! That assures the only precip type we’ll see west of the Cascades (and in the western Gorge).
Chief Meteorologist Mark Nelsen
I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you design this website yourself or did you hire
someone to do it for you? Plz answer back as
I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know where u got this from. kudos
I have been uproariously surprised at the number of hardcore supporters that you have on this blog, Mark! I have lived on the mountain for over 20 years and have seen all types of weather and have learned that your “guesses” are strictly for the Portland metro area and points west. I enjoy ruffling feathers!! Go Notre Dame!
Go Bama’ …. and that’s false. If anything Mark pays the most attention to the Gorge and Foothills than other TV weather folks do and has for many years. He is certainly hands down the best east wind forecaster and at understanding/handling borderline snow/ice situations. He is also the most accurate in the City with Matt Z. probably coming in second. If you think you can do better how about you analyze the models and type out your own interpretive analysis? Sounds like a plan to me.
You are a perfect example of the type of person I mentioned in my previous posting. As for your plan, I don’t have the training to make “educated guesses”. As for the Gorge, let Mark and his co-workers confine their “prognostications” to that area and stop making “guesses” about the weather in my neighbourhood.
PDX down to 33, so it’ll be close, but… I just don’t think it will creep west of Troutdale into Gresham or along I-84 west to pDX….. The cold layer is super shallow hugging the river even in Troutdale, but this often happens as the east wind back off a bit. Once again though this shows the Gorge factor and how models are still clueless on how to handle things when the east wind rages and pulls in colder air.
steady and slightly heavier freezing rain now, everything is really glazed and even more slippery as the temp has climbed to 30*
Be careful out there!
We are just across the Clark County line in Skamania County off of Washougal River Road. Really treacherous freezing rain accumulating relentlessly; hoping for no power outage at this point…
ODOT Travel Cams at Cascade Locks looks horrible. Can’t tell if it’s snow or a combo of snow/sleet?… 28 and coming down hard.
Mark, it is all freezing rain, no snow/sleet. Just did a walk about our property with my cleats on and it is still coming down vigorously.
up to 35.2. no excitement here tonite
We have been hammered here is rural Washougal. Ferocious winds for the last two days damaged my shed and trees. Now we are being glazed with a thick, solid layer of ice. Freezing rain for the last 3 hours, now we are are trapped in our home and the freezing rain continues with a steady temperature of 29 degrees. Hoping for some relief and no power outages (2 prior outages in the last 3 days). I am a fan of snow and arctic outbreaks, but I really must draw the line at ice storms and the terrible wind storms.
Oh wow…. not good. Be safe and hoping for no power outages.
I think tower temps are going to go back up next update!
35 with a SW wind that just broke thru. Temp will be going up.
The tower temps, why do they decrease?
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/tower_temps/tower_temps.php?&units=F
evaporative cooling?
32.2 here in NW Gresham.. And look what we have here…
GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA-GREATER VANCOUVER AREA-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…HILLSBORO…PORTLAND…OREGON CITY…
GRESHAM…VANCOUVER…BATTLE GROUND…WASHOUGAL
900 PM PST THU JAN 3 2013
…GUSTY WINDS AND PATCHY FREEZING DRIZZLE MAINLY INTERSTATE 205 EAST..
BRISK EAST WINDS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF TONIGHT NEAR THE
WEST END OF THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE…INCLUDING EASTERN SECTIONS
OF THE PORTLAND AND VANCOUVER METRO AREAS. EXPECT SPEEDS 0F 20 TO
25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH. THE WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO LET UP
BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND 4 AM EARLY FRIDAY MORNING.
OF ADDITIONAL CONCERN ARE TEMPERATURES FROM INTERSTATE 205
EASTWARD TO THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE THAT ARE NEAR OR BELOW
FREEZING. AT 830 PM THE TEMPERATURE AT THE NATIONAL WEATHER
SERVICE OFFICE 3 MILES EAST OF PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS
31 DEGREES…WITH TEMPERATURES OF 32 IN TROUTDALE. DRIZZLE IS EXPECTED
TO CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. WHILE ICE ACCUMULATIONS ARE NOT
EXPECTED…DRIZZLE MAY FREEZE ON ROAD SURFACES CREATING LOCALLY
HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. TRAVELERS ON INTERSTATE 84 EAST OF
INTERSTATE 205 ARE URGED CAUTION.
Half a degree more here and things are gonna get messy
No chance…. maybe very near the Gorge.. but we aren’t going to cool any further I bet.
up to 34.5 hmmmm
here in sw gresham temp is around 35
looks like that shallow layer of freezing air is down to river level troutdale.
Snowing in Carson, WA.
Yes, A nice mix of snow and freezing rain in Cascade Locks.
FRZ RAIN 31F. ICE ON THE DECK. TROUTDALE 230FT.
The cold layer that was about 2000′ thick over PDX is shrinking rapidly has become shallower by the minute. The cold air is retreating back up the Gorge.
Not even a chance here up north; we have no Gorge furnishing an easy conduit for cold air from the east. 41 and rain showers tonight in Seattle. Here’s hoping the promised late January cold snap pans out (I’m still optimistic it will).
Good news: the high fog vanished about 4 pm. The bad news: radiational cooling now has us at 9 above. Thats cold in my book. At least we broke the streak of 19 for a low and 21 for a high.
Where are you?
Cheer up, you could live where I went to college: Logan, Utah:
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?wfo=slc&sid=KLGU&num=72&raw=0
It’s in a mountain valley that collects cold air during periods of wintertime high pressure. The temperature can hover around 0F for days, with dense fog. Currently ice fog and -4 after an afternoon “high” of 6.
Sw of maupin 10 miles at the 1950′ level or so.
We got cold in Bend last night. My house is at 3750 feet on the west side and we went below zero, just slightly. We have not had an above freezing temp at the house in like 3 weeks.
It’s 27 DP 21 here in the gorge north of beacon Rock at 1,172 ft. I have a sandpaper like coating of sleet and freezing rain mix on all surfaces. This is only the second time I have had freezing rain here in over six years. Usually, it is just rain and slightly below freezing in these scenarios and then I head down hill 200 feet in elevation to basically the bottom of my driveway and it is a sheet of ice. I guess for once the cold air is deep enough to include me and not just my neighbors in the icy fun. A shout out to my fellow bloggers on Brindle Butte/Mt. Zion (next hill to my west). I bet Mt. pleasant road and Belle Center Rd. are getting real slick.
Ice pellets at 6:30pm, switched to ice rain at 7:30. Currently 24F with light rain and sustained wind finally dropped below 20mph.
This location has had sustained wind above 20mph since last Sunday.
Didn’t check the roads. Driveway is lightly coated in ice and not too slick with rough ice pellets as the base layer.
Those rough ice pellets are always much better to drive on than the slick glaze smooth ice.
Temp 34.5, Dewpoint 19, Wind E @ 14 but it has backed off….
Freezing rain here in Washougal. It started around 5:30 and has been on again/off again since then. We have just enough to make the road slick and put a glaze on everything. 1400′ and 31 degrees.
It’s doing absolutely nothing in Milwaukie right now. No wind, no rain, no sun, no stars, no moon, no thunder, no snow, no hail, no sleet, no graupel, no drizzle frizzle snizzle do shizzle, no ice cubes, no beer, no tornadoes, no hurricanes, no fire, no brimstone, no locusts, no frogs, no falling fish, no screaming banshees, no booming voice, no dice, no parking, no trespassing, no soliciting, no free refills, no refunds, wrong way, do not enter, absolutely no thing, nothing, not a thing… weather is not occurring at this time.
The Milwaukie/Clackamas/Gladstone/Oregon City anti-weather glass dome is in full effect tonight!
you are too funny
This is great ^
Any meatballs?
No meatballs. No foolin’!
Well you could go to the store and get a few of those things and throw them up in the air and watch them land. Best to consume the beer though.
And record that whole thing too please!
Erik, that was hilarious. Seriously. I laughed big on that one! Thanks.
Hope the chickens are doing well.
BTW — same thing here … you are not alone!
lol
No beer? Oh, you sad, sad puppy.
NO cats and dogs either? Crap. Now I have to go down the the pet store to get my own. Hoping mother nature would drop some.
33.8 & no precip here
37 degrees,25 Dew point
Going steelhead fishing tomorrow in the coast range. Sure hope that south wind breaks thru cuz it’s gonna be a cold float if the inversion doesn’t break!
Good luck bro!
Some day we may get snow…
thanks for the update
Have you had any sprinkles there?
larch mt. it is freezing rain (showers) have a nice little glaze on everything
Ooh, you may have a rough drive home tonight, Mark… be careful!!!
Brought the 4Runner! Yes, I see it’s 28 degrees at home with those showers passing over…
Still pretty cold down here; just 33 degF. But no sign of precip either.
First!!
You in!