why so quiet here?

Life (and Weather) still happens, and I still watch and record. However, I've rolled my two 'blogs into a single one and use tags to keep things like weather events, yard-stuff and camera-babble separated. Please drop in there to find the most recent musings and amusements!

So try granitix2.blogspot.com/search/label/wx for weather topics, 

or use granitix2.blogspot.com/search/label/yard for outside projects! 

another wet season begins -perhaps

Storms await, and this week has a forecast of nearly two inches upcoming. We'll see about that! In any case it has been a curious warm season, hardly warm at all with clouds quite common. We had some thunder a few mornings ago but little moisture.

An interesting week awaits.

summer deferred

Here on the hill-top we await the sequel to summer. Late spring was dry and warm, but as we approach mid-July we sit under clouds and showers. We've had almost 3/4" this past few days, nearly the average July in a hurry. No matter, the thrush and grosbeaks still sing and flowers continue to bloom - probably with more enthusiasm than usual!

In the meantime the large yard goes unmown. That is partly due to rain but also to a flat tire on the riding mower. I finally have a spare in hand, but no rush to put it on while showers remain. Once the dry weather resumes I'll definitely have my yardwork cut out for me.

I have yet to attack the blackberry hillside, but I've a better tool for it at least. A rechargable 18v trimmer also awaits better weather, and I have blades to replace the string for more effective vine removal. We'll see how that goes.

Among other items that have been accomplished though, is the stone walk below the deck. It looks nice, far better now that some weed-block fabric sits below it! A nice place to walk, and also less of a hassle when the mower comes out - that corner of the yard was always awkward to get trimmed..

I've also trimmed several trees back, and relocated the weather gage to a spot with fewer branches overhanging it to mess with my rainfall totals.

the first peep

We've now reached the typical window for the Swainson's Thrush to be heard. Not to be seen, that's asking a lot - but the soft questioning peep? should be audible in the next few days. My wife's favorite sound is their mating song, but that usually takes a week or two more before both genders are well represented in the area.

We're listening..

In the meantime the first black-headed Grosbeaks and their 'tipsy robin' song have arrived.
How funny, 'tipsy robin' is now a song title; that really messed up my search!


Update, 19 May: the Thrush have arrived!
They might have reached us on the 18th, I suspected I heard one. They are more vocal at twilight, and that's when the heavy showers reached us - so I wasn't out listening in any case! No spiraling trills yet, just the short or longer one-note calls at this point. Too tired to set up a new nest just yet, perhaps?

Update #2, 21 May - at 5:30 this morning I heard the first song.
Until then I had only heard the peep or whit call.

long time no see

This has not been a feature of the 2018-9 wet season. It's definitely rather typical in November-January rather than April, and the amounts will not be huge; still, it's something. After a March that was just 41% of average, we'll take it!

Our Oct-Mar 'wet season' total was 84% of average, which is the first time in four or more years that we've been subpar. The weekly total is forecast to be about three inches, so no flooding or damage - but with April normal at just over 5", we may be in the above-average category for a week or two.

full detachment

A week ago our high was about 43°, and a few patches of snow still loitered on our driveway.
Today we hit 70°, and we never reached the dewpoint temperature. The east wind and its down-slope drying had something to do with that; in a few days showers will return, and our lines will overlap yet again.

Amazing turnaround in a single week though!

And the mosquitoes have arrived.
Drat.

moving day!

It seems like a week ago we were freezing every night - guess it was closer to ten days? In any case we're hitting 60 degrees now, shoots are shooting and spring has begun! Still chilly in the shade though.

The sun is now rising far enough north to influence the temperature sensor. Morning temps shoot up just after sunrise then level off or even drop a bit. It cannot be entirely fixed, but the summer location is in the shade for more of the day - so this morning I shifted the pole back to its summer spot. At least the high temperatures are well represented, even if the 7AM temps are a bit overstated!

Looks like I moved it around 10:30 AM.. note how the shadier spot makes a difference.

Marching on

Warmest and coldest
February days

February was not a warm month. Sure it sorta started that way - but the table shows just how long that lasted! About 16½ inches of snow fell here on the hill-top; curiously that's the lowest February total of the last three years. Amazing to me, as I've never thought of February as a snow month. Even Portland got its share, though not nearly as much  - but Eugene definitely had 16" or more, mostly on a single memorable day.

And so on to March. A few snow showers are loitering even now, but making it stick is hard. Our two-inch snowfall yesterday/7th nearly melted away before another half inch arrived this morning as reinforcement. It too has faded - and forecasts are improving. Other than a bit of rain/snow early next week we should be dry.

By next week we may even be done with freezing temperatures! Chilly fingers crossed..

wow

NRCS basin snowpack measurements - effect of the 2019 Big Chill!

yes more snow

Another inch came down this morning, putting the month at just under 16 inches of snowfall. All of this year's snow came in February - too early to say that generally for the season though, as early March is just two days away! I see that Seattle last had a high near normal on 2/4, and many highs this month were are or below the average low temperature. Oof.

This perpetual Yukon low will wither away to drier weather for early March - but no heat wave, not even seasonal for a while. Here is March 8th forecasts from GFS, ECMWF and CMC models, all showing teal-tint 540MB heights are about as good as we can expect. Not Arctic certainly, but definitely not an early sping! And considering the mild Oct-Jan season, it feels like we got a bonus season this year.

nonstop

The turn to winter continues.

After a mild Nov-Jan span lulled us into complacency, the February parade of cool Yukon air has now sat upon (or very near) us for three weeks now. Piles of shoveled snow remain from the storms that began on the 8th and peaked on the 11th, though the unshoveled snow had finally melted off our yard, deck and driveway in the past few days.

And now this. Almost three inches fell this afternoon as I came home from work. The wet flakes in Longview proper became a slick inch on the roads above 450 feet.

The forecast this morning was for several snowy nights with no real accumulation, followed by rainy days that would essentially rinse it all away. That's now looking pretty rare on this evening's chart above! The Sunday/Monday event could leave four inches, though w.Underground says 5-8" is feasible. They were pretty close with the earlier storm, though they stayed cool as the slow melt removed our saucer-runs on the driveway.

And this time?  Stay tuned!

regional snowpack improvement

One of the very good effects of the recent snow/slush events is the west-side snowpack. This chart was solid-gold in the Cascades for the entire season - but not any more! While still below average, the map at right shows the improvement from gold to yellow. More storms are heading toward us and below-normal temperatures remain, so the good news should continue. A few more basins could be turning green in the near future!

The Sierra have received feet of snow during this time, and numbers down there have reached 150% and more - good news for them too after several bleak years. Not as much fun for the PGA and their California/Arizona events, but they will manage. Tournament payouts do not seem to decrease just because people got a bit wet and chilly, so complaints are not reaching me about this.

yep it snowed in February

As I type we're at 11 inches and counting. We are right on the forecast margin here, as Longview is wet and most radar echoes are alternately painted white or green at our location. This is part of a warm front that may lift far enough north to switch us to rain - or maybe not. Then it swings back down again as snow. That part is pretty likely.

This cool retirement home is a fun place in winter, but I did accept a part-time job down below; it's awkward to call out as unavailable/snowed in.  Had the Fiat not been stuck on our driveway perhaps the Explorer would be tractioned up and ready to take me down the hill. Ah well - one does what one must.

An interesting side note:

February is the big-snow month here, at least since we got here. I'm much more accustomed to December as the big-snow month, as it was in 1968 and 2008 - but the top snow measurements here have been the past three Febs! Most of these values are consecutive-day measurements which makes it look more impressive - but every day with 5" or more has been in month #2.

Curious.

freaky February

After a rather dry and very mild early winter, this El Niño is turning the tables.

The eastern USA got hammered with a storm as brutal as any in 20 years, with subzero readings and nasty wind chills all over the region. That mutated into a spectacular warmup that moved the bitter air to the Yukon - and that air has decided to come south.

This past week we had 1/2 inch of snow, and it hasn't gone anywhere except under direct sunlight. And the forecast has wavered a few times, but today it looks like this -

The weather service forecast at top would give us a range of 2-5 inches through the weekend, and clearly WxUnderground goes a bit above and beyond. At this point that extra half-cord of wood I bought seems like a genius move, but two weeks ago it seemed merely an exercise in giving me exercise as I stacked it wherever I could find a spot. 

We'll see how this works out a week from now. It's a real departure from the El Niño blueprint, which tends to start as a normal winter before going mild and dry later on.