8pm Tuesday…
Last night’s forecast turned out well. When we look back at this event it’ll just be a typical winter storm. But it sure was nice to see after such a slow start to the storm season wasn’t it?
RAIN
Quite a soaking. Most spots in the metro area saw 1″ or more, some spots more than 2″! PDX saw about 1.30″ since the rain started yesterday afternoon. There was no intense band of rain for the morning commute so we avoided any sort of widespread road flooding. This is the type of rain we need to soak in for the next dry season. Note we’re just about back to normal for December now.
WIND
I’m glad I made a last minute downward adjustment to the wind speed forecast. All the airport locations remained below 50 mph. Quite a few spots saw nothing more than a typical breezy night (Scappoose, Vancouver, Troutdale, Gresham etc…)
Way up on the Fremont Bridge there was a gust to 50 mph, and a tower on top of Chehalem Mtn near Newberg hit 59 mph.
Of course it was a real wind storm at the coastline. Cape Foulweather made it to 90 mph, and most coastal cities were in the 55-70 mph range
Today was pretty quiet in our viewing area and amazingly warm with midday sunshine. We hit a record high in Portland…59 degrees! There were some downpours this afternoon and even a few lightning strikes with a few showers though.
Tomorrow will be uneventful, then a powerful storm moves towards British Columbia tomorrow night. This system will have a weaker wind field. That keeps most effects on the coastline; not a significant wind producer for the valley.
Chief Meteorologist Mark Nelsen
FOX 12 Weather Blog 
It may not be time to kiss Winter goodbye just yet. But I am getting ready to pucker up. This El Nino is starting to live up to it’s full potential. Even Mark has no falling snowflakes on his blog. Merry Christmas and Peace.
Well, I guess I’ll say something about Wednesday. We could be on the borderline of having snow flurries in the morning before we warm up. Just something I saw on the 12Z Euro. 🤗❄
The 12Z GFS isn’t the greatest because of the annoying High pressure that develops offshore and stays for a couple of days. What I do like around hour 234 to the end of the run. The jet stream (300mb height, wind) finally consolidates with winds around 175 kt. It’s also targets the Oregon/California border. If this happens, we will be on the cold side of the jet and the systems that come in will dump a lot of snow onto the mountains. I know it’s a long ways out but I’m majorly wishcasting right now…lol
We don’t have to drive anywhere that day so i say..i hope so..
If this comment is allowed to be posted there is a Super Blood Moon next month around this time on a Sunday evening. NASA will of course stream it if the weather outside is frightful.
Thanks Mark for showing your true colors on censoring. It’s no wonder the MSM is a dying breed grasping on straws. I hope either Trump or a smarter President then him figures out the rest of the pieces and busts up the global media monopoly and any of you who collaborate get to see your days behind bars.
Little kids get the rest of their life ruined by a little bag of weed (often holding it for someone else not even the owner of the weed) yet crooked businessman who screw others get off Scott Free or go to Camp Fed (aka Federal Minimum Security) in the rare cases of being prosecuted.
Hi Kyle!
It’s time to go take your meds again… 😵
Did any one else uabe thunder?
Heavy rain juas just started…so relaxing of a sound.
uabe?
Thunder and lightning on the north coast.
Winds are picking up.
I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy new year..
Hey, just want to let you know, we’re freezing in the Castle Roc area., earlier this morning there were som slide offs on some ramps on I 5.
Pulling for that pattern retrograde around the end of this month that could put the entire PNW in a favorable winter weather flow! (I know, “wishcasting”; but some signs are there too!)
Shhh..don’t say that..youll jinx it.
Hmm Christmas Eve could be interesting if the low tracks further south. Praying for a white Christmas. God Bless and Merry Christmas to all.
Gotta love the post modern warmth. The ocean patterns are a reflection of our massive planet wide change not the cause get used to it.
At one point in the 1,000AD global warming Lake Tahoe went dry but not till the peak of it which was more like 1,200AD. We have a long dusty road ahead of us.
Blessed Solstice, and happy Winter to all!
Merry Christmas Erik…
..and may the Dome be breached for you and yours!
-Mr. Johnson
And with a big, bright ole moon tonight! Probably should dig into the bag o hoobies and dance naked in the snow! 🙂
And check out the moon tonight! Probably should did into the bag o hoobies and go dancing in the snow around the bonfire! 😉
Hoobies? Never heard of those. But i can ice skate lol
Ello and same to you and your family.
AARGH! The days are getting longer now which means summer is nearly here 😦
Oh pull-lease… give it a few months! If you’re looking for rain, come up here: I’ve counted over 11 inches again for the month, and we’ve got a few days left to set a new record. 🙂
Car says 34 weather online says 36…stark change in temperature as opposed to yesterday. Lol.
Well, at least we wont he getting a sever snow and ice storm..so i am thankfully for that .
The 12Z GFS looks much better than a day ago 🙂
Looks like steaming garbage to me.
LOL, it’s better than having a High pressure system over us for a week or more…hehe
The rain for this weekend/early next week keeps getting dwindled down. Shocking, I know. We will end December below average for precipitation and way above for temperature. We will end 2018 with around 27” of total rain. I am not sure if it will be the hottest year on record. It will be up near the top if not. All long-term forecasts indicate that we will continue the warm and dry conditions. Drought will remain. Worst in the country by state. On the bright side, it can’t get worse… right?
Well great news for our solar power system.
TOP HALF OF CAR HAS ICE!, our raidio was reporting multiple slide offs from i 5 ramp.
Clearly the Northwest did what it does best ..freeze right after a storm lol.
Does any one else have ice?
Haven’t been outside yet her in East Vancouver, but i’ve been sleeping with my window wide open every night–this morning I woke up with the cat under the blankets with me, and a REAL chill in the air! BRRRR, it’s literally the first time I’ve turned the heater on!
Nice and frosty here this morning. Had to bring the rain gauge in because it was frozen together and I couldn’t get it apart to take a reading and empty it.
The front brought in cooler, dryer air, plus it cleared off and got calm, all of which maximized radiational cooling. It doesn’t take much to get an overnight freeze when the nights are as long as they are right now.
I agree. But, all tuat water became black ice in areas i think its time we remind our selves just how fast our weather can change..Mr Budy is set to medium..those Mr Big Buddy Heaters are Nice… Were not off grid Yet.
I suppose inam the only one here headed that rout.
Why pay for power when you can get some of it for free? Well..sorta..one has to invest in equipment..but all in all..its an interesting life style.
Just remeber, when the lower goes out..were all off gridders then lol.
Any who..looks like were freezong again tonigjt..
I out up a dragon ..hoping he will scare off tue frost. Disnt work sogu. Oh..i guess i need a real dragon lol.
My area in Castle Rock, hf, solapanel casualties..
We disnt lose power in my area of Castle Castle Rock Washington.
It was a pretty strong balst of wind thst knocked my hf panels over.
Well, if you went by the 00Z GFS, we no longer have a winter.
It can be deceptive you know..The Pacific Northwest can still pull a fast one. I have seen it rain, snow freeze, melt freeze rain, freeze then snow…and i have seen 1 5 flooded to the point of total shut down. Living inthis area for 48 years…i learned to trust my instincts..not a peice of electronic Pheltercarb.
Still gusty but it’s been ramping down for some time. Apparently this event peaked early. Significant damage to the power infrastructure here on the west side of the Salish Sea with main distribution lines down in multiple places. No power here since 11:13.
It appears the wind is ramping down here now as well. I’d say our strongest gusts were between 1 and 2pm. A few trees down in our city, but mostly some twigs/small branches broken off.
And about 6½ hours later, the power is back on for me. Most of Kitsap County was apparently blacked out at one point. Many still are.
When all os over, might want to invest in a generator ..or if in ana appartment, a bicycle generator…
Do you have a generator? Yeah, i have to pick up my lighter solar panels..a 50 mph blast nocked them down..and that was with trees as wind breaks.
No generator here, but I cook and heat with propane so losing power isn’t a super-big deal.
Aside from some light breezes, Downtown Portland has been spared once again.
Some seem quite disappointed to be spared – even though this was never going be be anything other than normal weather for NW Oregon in late December…
Once in a while some exciting weather is certainly fun.
Pressure now 1005 mbar and rising, minimum was 1004. That means winds should increase for the next several hours. Blustery with rain showers. Reports of downed power lines starting to come in on the scanner. Power is still on here.
Wind is getting stronger and power is now out.
Can you refresh my mind but were are you again?
Bainbridge Island (in the Salish Sea, about 6 miles west of Seattle). In the high wind warning area.
We just iad this ligh rain come through.
Reed Timmer was here. He was in California, skipped over us completely and headed to Washington 😦
Thanks..lol
Only slightly breezy at the morning. Forecast to increase rapidly after 10:00.
Getting blustery out there.
Winds died..dead calm…that was a short lived storm
I stand corrected…holy mother of all storms…we just got slammed hard..
Wow, give me a break on the 12Z GFS extended forecast. Another bad thing is the 00Z Euro extended forecast was hinting at the same thing. I really hope it doesn’t come true. I don’t want to see highs close to 60 degrees. 😦
What’s funny (not so funny) is, when models show epic cold and snow or a raging wind storm in the long range, it rarely ever verifies for us. However, when models show dry and unseasonably warm weather in the long range, it almost always verifies.
Weird, but true.
I have always had the same feeling about that as well. Whenever snow shows on the long range and reverts to warm weather it never usually flips back.
Next weekend has gone from cool and dry to warm and wet. We know the warm part will stick.
Today is the 10th day in a row above 50. No sub-freezing temps or highs in the 30s all season and none in the foreseeable future. Below normal precipitation in December despite the recent “storms”. I have a feeling that this will go down as a historically futile winter.
I think this winter will go down as an official bust in regards to snow in the lowlands. We haven’t even had a decent hard freeze yet. Hopefully January will have something in store but all forecasts “as much of a grain of salt” as it is all show warmer than average temps for the northwest. Hopefully we can get something between now and February.
…doesn’t something have to be forecast first in order to be a bust?…
It is Thursday, i see the storm was late in arriving..
I noticed, Chewy, our dog growls while looking out the window bwfore a storm hits..ws have a ..Storm Alert Dog ..lol.
Eh does tuat constitute as a service animal?
Round two is here and its just starting..its slowly getting louder out side. Oh..wait that was my computer fan.
Oops nope, it was not my computer fan…
It..has..begun…(holding Staff in Hand)..It..starts now!..
Ok, the 00Z GFS is a mess. I actually hate it. I’m hoping this was just a fluke.
Hate is a strong word.
…Yes, I hate it. It was genuine trash.
I wanted to say something else but didn’t know if I could say the s word…lol
Puget Sound is getting a great windstorm tomorrow as well. Sometimes I just hate Portland’s weather.
Yea, they are in the perfect spot when storms come up from the Southwest.
Same old story… high pressure too close to us. Cold air forced east (and south in this case). It is certainly not locked in though.
It is time to end that thing and put it out of its misery.
All the fancy tech we have..and it can’t even get the weather right..
Ok serious question..why are the bloody models in such an mess?
Some one needs to give the main fran a swift kick…
Any thoughts on this weekend? Wife and daughter are driving from Bay Area to Portland. They can drive either Friday or Saturday. Any sign of really bad weather (esp snow) on Highway 5 either day?
Saturday maybe the better day. It’s suppose to be mostly a dry day. Friday could have snow going over the Siskiyou Summit during the morning and there could be showers (possibly snow) in the afternoon. I think Saturday would be the best day to travel.
Ken, have you read much on the polar vortex the media has been talking about. And what that mean to us here in the NW.
Yea, I read it but not sure why you would want to talk about it when John wanted to know if it was safe for his wife and daughter to come up from the Bay area?
Ueah tehy been stating that the polar Vortex is weakening…and that is not good.
My hope is that we dont get some woerd patrerm that would turn all this to ice…i am sure people would love I 5 as the great ice eink..
Thanks Ken. I will let them know.
Thanks! I will let them know.
Just a FYI, if your family is going over the Siskiyou Summit on Saturday, make sure they go over in the morning. The next storm is suppose to come into our area on Saturday but won’t be here until the afternoon. Also, the Siskiyou Summit area will probably be cold so they should watch out for icy spots. 🙂
Its not nice to tease us with snow..especially when its near 60 lol.
I was right: it was an EF-2 tornado. Very unusual for western Washington (strongest since 1986)!
High Wind Watch for my area upgraded to High Wind Warning.
I was looking at the next storm. It’s still between 150 and 140 longitude and between 30 and 40 latitude and still moving East to Southeast (but by the Visible Satellite image it looks like it’s moving more SE). If it can keep this direction for awhile more and get close to 130 longitude then start it’s turn to the NE and intensify as it moves up to Vancouver Island, we could see some good winds.
I did look at a Buoy 46006 (it’s the only buoy that is close to the storm). The pressure there was 29.55 inches and it says it’s falling rapidly.
I’m thinking we could see some decent winds tomorrow if the storm tracks a little more eastward. This is just what I’m observing at the moment in the satellite picture. But I could be wrong…lol.
Almost sounds like the system may creat a weather bomb?
We didn’t loose power on Storm “A”. I see storm “B” heading in.
we shouldn’t call these storms busts or failures because we do not know who is going to be effected. I read online where there were people with out power.
One thing we need to keep in mind is that Location is key.
some areas might have protections from high winds, where as some areas will act like wind tunnels.
*side note, my dog is growling out the window and nothing is out there…Storm must be due to hit soon
At any rate, remember to stay safe, Storms are unpredictable things.
they can change fast.
Currently it is the , dead calm before the storm…and I mean dead calm, no birds and I have not even seen the squirrel cross the telephone line of late.
No Aircraft have been heard either.
.
But all in all it ” The storm of the season” was little more than a rainy day with a few gusts in the overnight period.
Sad. We get this weak storm after Seattle got 50-60 gusts last week and will be getting more gusts past 40 this week?
It’s all fun and games till your roof blows off.
I’d sure like to have back all the time I’ve spent dealing with fallen trees.
Well, I am starting to haul my electric tree cutter around in my car lol. These battery powered chain saws are no joke. this one can down an 80 foot tree. but more than likely, I would use it to clear fallen trees from the road way.
with a 400 watt inverter soon to be installed in the car I can keep the thing charged and ready for use.
who ever thought part of having emergency items would include a battery powered chain saw?
In 45-60 gusts? Not terribly likely.
I think that was an allusion to yesterday’s tornado in Port Orchard.
I was talking to my wife and was speaking just on that subject, I was saying this is the kind of weather that can spawn a tornado.
You are correct. But so many people live in the inside bubble that the idea of a big storm is something that happens to someone else….until they lose their internet connection.
I simply enjoy them, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.
Or lose thier power..or worse ..thier life.
I have personally witnessed, “That won’t ever happen ” happen.
The COWLITZ River is a mess with trash.
We had fun . But i got 0 sleep last night.
Great job with the forecast Mark!