An interesting month here in Portland. Chilly, windy, and sunny to start, a bunch of heavy rain plus mild temps in the middle, then mild and dry for the last 3rd. It all averaged out to a warmer than average January with near normal precipitation. Still no snowfall either. As of February 1st the “terrible winter” of 2010-2011 has produced no sticking snow in Portland. Very rare for a moderate-strong La Nina winter. Yes, the palm tree is a bit dramatic, but notice we had 14 days with highs in the 50s here in Portland, that’s unusual too.
Here are the stats for some Pacific Northwest Stations:
Station, Temperature Anomaly (from 30 year average), Total Precipitation, Precip Anomaly
Portland: 41.7 (+1.78), 4.78″ (-.34″)
Salem: 42.3 (+2.0), 3.25″ (-2.59″)
Eugene: 41.5 (+1.7), 2.05″ (-5.60″)
Olympia: 40.2 (+2.1), 7.27″ (-.27)
Astoria: 42.3 (-.1), 12.20″ (+2.58)
Redmond: 34.8 (+1.6), .47″ (-.50)
Pendleton: 35.4 (+1.6), 1.41″ (-.04)
Here’s a nice image showing temperature anomaly across the West since the beginning of December. Click on it for a better view. No surprise here; the Western USA has had a very mild winter so far. I see Burns sticks out nicely with all the cold nights and chilly days due to early snow cover on the ground that started back in late November. So now it’s February and what do we see? More of the same for the next 7-10 days. Unusually dry conditions for AT LEAST another week.
Use this post to put in your stats for this past January only, please continue discussion on the previous post.