April Ends Chilly

This one surprised me...I added up the 60+ degree days during the February-April period the last 5 years.  Whew...it really has been chilly, but we've also had some mild springs lately.   Apparently this year is makeup time.  Makes me wonder if May will be cool again...that does seem to happen in La Nina springs.  However, April was a bit drier than normal, and most La Nina May months have been drier than normal as well.

Based on the forecast maps, I did start working in the garden again today, anticipating planting some "cool weather" plants/seeds next week.  It's going to be warm enough for those now.  But even if you live in the city, I still would wait on the warm weather plants (tomatoes, corn, peppers etc...).  The ground is going to take awhile to warm up.  But it IS nice to see a sense of normalcy on the weather maps for next week.  In general the upper level heights and 850mb temps are warmer.  Not any significant, rain producing weather systems move through the Northwest either.  In fact the 00z GFS that just came out shows little to no rain in the next 7 days.  The 12z ECMWF was similar with high heights too.

The general trend may be warmer, but unfortunately a dying cold front will torment weather forecasters tomorrow and Saturday.  Some sort of light showers sit over us both days...Mark Nelsen

Comments

[Antipex (Cupertino, CA)]

The May sunshine is down here. Morning clouds, quickly burning off, followed by sunshine and skyrocketing temperatures, then when the temp is around 74-75 the seabreeze kicks in and caps it off. In the evening you can see the low clouds flowing and billowing over the hills to the west - it's amazing!

[TheTriforce]

If we are going to have a warmer then average month inn the winter then I would rather have it be extreme so it can be in the records book and worth discussing. or it's just plain ol disgusting. blech.

Now it's 63F and overcast. yuck. Where's the May sunshine. It seems just about every May the last 10yrs have been cloudy and yuck.

[HIO Phil (Punxsutawney)]

Nope, just my overactive imagination.

[HIO Phil (Punxsutawney)]

I’m with you on the 60+ weather in February Jesse.

TV – Sounds good, I always look forward to the winter weather meeting.

Am I seeing some rotation in the clouds offshore this morning?

The following is part of a something someone sent me this morning-
“If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you live in Oregon.”– Jeff Foxworthy

Seems true for this winter and spring.

[Ice - MyWeatherLive]

And May also started with a chilly weather and with some tornadoes touchdowns and a disaster in Myanmar... A really bad start of May... :(

[Jesse-Orchards]

That said, I can also enjoy cloudy skies, upper 50s and drizzle in May. I like it variable!

[Jesse-Orchards]

Admittedly I have trouble enjoying sunny, 60+ weather in February. That is wasting valuable snow potential time!

I can definitely take clear skies and low-mid 70s in May, though.

[Derek-West Gresham]

Today was really nice..sunshine was very relaxing.

[TV Weather Producer]

Doing well. It was good to catch up with Steve, HIO Phil, Pat Timm, Mark and Drew yesterday at the retirement dinner for George Taylor. AMS Update, we are starting to plan for the winter weather meeting. We'll have some new things this year.

[Mat ne portland]

Uh......ok. Went fishing today onthe Clackamas River and it was the perfect fishing day although thewater was high and fast. At least 18 or so inches higher than a week ago. Snow must be melting up there.

Oh ya, lots of steelies in dem der rivers.

[TheTriforce]

I was just teasing Jesse because I was worried he would go back to his old ways which I was proven wrong obviously.

He used to do that a lot on the forums I hanged out at especially during February when we were having 'nice weather'. Plus, there were arguments about Western Washington being a 'dark box' and sometimes between him and another member it would drag into a long fight but the other member got kicked out.
Jesse has backed off and doesn't do that anymore which makes it nicer when we have weird events. Thank you Jesse for execpting things and now back on topic.

It's 58F now with a high of 73. That's right seventy three but the weather was poo pooed by high clouds which ruined the sky view.

[Boring Larry in Cherryville el.918]

...just plain goodness....

[Sandi (Wilsonville)]

Doing well ~ busy and enjoying working in the yard and planting flowers and tomatoes and observing earthworms. :) A couple of beautiful days! Homeschooling is a bit challenging when even the teacher cannot stay focused and indoors. We'll just call today's activities "science" and "wellness" and I think we got a little math in there as well. ;)

[HIO Phil (Punxsutawney)]

75 is warm enough for me though the garden is definately happy with the last couple of days.

Hopefully I'll be able to ride to work tommorow without my winter gear on.

[Boring Larry in Cherryville el.918]

two days perfection
photosynthesis runs wild
Chac please stay away

[GradientKeeper~AtmosphericWrath -Far S.E Portland-]

I can summarize today with one word.

Perfection

[Vaportrail]

i like clouds.

[Luvry]

Wow, quiet in here.
Looks like the rest of the week may be pretty dry...cloudy however but just a few showers here and there, works for me! Although I wouldn't mind the sun at all, dry conditions are all that matters to me right now!
How is everyone!?

[wendy-silverlake,wa]

Cherie, same here. Got one of the front and side yards mowed today. Saving the bigger front and very large (and tall) back yard for tomorrow. Beautiful day today. Got half of the kid's playhouse built today, hope the weather holds out good till next weekend so it doesn't get to wet inside.

[Derek-West Gresham]

No need to antagonize Jesse for liking clouds Triforce, if you ask me that means he is in the right place given our climate...haha

[Cherie in Vernonia]

I agree Heat...Pt Townsend is nice. I lived near there in Chimacum & even marched in a parade in Pt Townsend when I was 15 LOL

69 in the shade.........got the front mowed......tomorrow the BIG back.....no rider :0(

[TheTriforce]

Did someone say hike? I would love that. It's 72.3 here. Can I use my Dimension machine to drive us there?

[Jesse-Camas]

Gorgeous out today. Wish I wasn't at work so I could go for a hike.

[TheTriforce]

Quote from Jesse on Saturday 5/3/08: "What a nice, cool, refreshing day!"

If you want cloudy weather so bad Jesse then you should move to Juneau AK or Port Townsend WA. (The latter is where my Grandma lives)
Port Townsend I would recommend more because you have Port Angeles to drive to do stuff while Juneau your stuck on that island with only a plane or ferry to get out. The ferry probabley doesn't operate in the winter. Port Towsend is a very pretty 'seaside' town.

So Jesse: Quit spoiling the party. We want nice weather and we are now having it today. In fact, I dropped to 39F this morning and am now (checks temperature) WHOAH, 62F and sunhine galore; After some brief morning marine layer for a few short hours
Who wants crap weather in spring when we can have this?

[salemphil]

Randall, you can use google earth and just place your pointer over the area you want the elevation for and it will give it at the bottom of the screen along with the Latitude and Longitude.

Hey guys,

I am moving to Corbett, and I was wondering what the elevation is at my specific location. Does anyone know of a site that will give me exact elevation by typing in an address? Google just gives me the topo maps ad I am not smart enough to figure it out.

Thanks in advace,

Randall

[Camas~Mom]

I'll come to your party! ;) Thanks for the info on tomorrow - I am really looking forward to it! I might even start getting my garden ready with some amendments.

[TV Weather Producer]

Alan Jackson with Miranda Lambert Thursday at the Rose Garden.

[Cherie_in_Vernonia]

What party TWP?? :0)

[TV Weather Producer]

C Mom,

We'll get some nice weather in here for tomorrow. Tomorrow is going to be a nice Sunday. I am actually happy that there will be some showers this week. I need it to be cool on Thursday. It helps draw people into the preconcert party I'm working.

TWP

[Jesse-Orchards]

What a nice, cool, refreshing day!

[Camas~Mom]

What's up with this nasty day?!

Congratulations Mark, Steve and TV! You'll be valuable assets to the board. Now, could you do something about this crappy day? ;)

[TheTriforce]

Ummm I guess this is the light showers Mark said. Sorry for the mistake. :(

[TheTriforce]

It's lightly showering outside and 60F. I don't think this was suppose to happen. So much for Mark's sunny weekend he wanted. :(

yes indeed! Congrats to both Mark & Steve. Way to go.

[GradientKeeper~AtmosphericWrath -Far S.E Portland-]

I must be very slow lately because I just now read below about Mark and Steve. Congrats both. Good night all.

[TheTriforce]

WOWWWWWWWWW! Bambi is back. :) The 'creature' sure makes summer time fun on this blog. I hope nobodys gardens are too seriously damaged even though I hope Bambi does some hit and run on the gardens and not get caught. :D

Now remeber Bambi: Don't take more then you need or that's greed. (Hey that rhymes!)
I hope you enjoy your time in the Bahamas eating to your hearts content.

[GradientKeeper~AtmosphericWrath -Far S.E Portland-]

......and back to weakening. Well there goes the extremely slight chances for any glimmer of hope for even an ounce of exciting weather over western Oregon.

[GradientKeeper~AtmosphericWrath -Far S.E Portland-]

Update: That weak area of showers has slightly intensified how showing tops to 19,000'
I still do not expect anything to occur.

[GradientKeeper~AtmosphericWrath -Far S.E Portland-]

Hmmm watching a few weak showers that have popped up in the southerly flow over Cascades of Linn and Marion counties. I don't expect much to occur, but watching this for the heck of it.

[Camas~Mom]

Thank you all for the concern, we're all fine. I don't think Bambi made it, she was able to get up after a minute and stumble into the brush, but she was not in good shape. I ran to the closest neighbor, but the husband wasn't home and I could never bring myself to shoot a deer, I just don't think I could.

The car is surprisingly pretty okay. The grill is smashed up and there is a dent. But the deer launched rather than went up and over, so the damage is in the front only. She literally jumped right in the middle of my lane from the brush - I didn't have time to do anything but lay down skid marks. Poor thing. I do admit that anything that comes in to my peripheral vision now really freaks me out!

[Boring Larry in Cherryville el.918]

...a raccoon??....i think the bump in your bumper is the repair shop fee.....
C'Mom...hope your ok!!!!...it's happened to a lot of us...having lived in Eastern Oregon, driving a lot of early morning and late evening hours, close calls, and more, were a way of life....i hit an elk calf once on the way to a fire......

[salemphil]

Hope you are ok C-mom. Several years ago I was heading home from eastern Or. and hit a buck just east of Mitchel coming down a 6% grade doing about 60mph. Bent the frame of my 84 Chevy S-10 pickup but still drove it the rest of the way home to Salem. Scared the heck out of me though! Actually the scariest part was telling the guys at the local store when I was getting radiator stop leak that I had hit a buck the eve of opening day LOL! I think they wanted to hit me LOL!!

[Mat ne portland]

I wonder if this is Al Gore induced. Anyone know if this is the case?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_sc/on_thin_ice

[Mark Nelsen]

I've got a big dent where Mr. Raccoon's head ran into my front bumper at 50mph about 2 weeks ago...pretty weak bumper don't you think?

[Mat ne portland]

Congratulations Mark and Steve!!!

The AMS just got that much better.

[TV Weather Producer]

Congrats to Mark and Steve Pierce. Both were elected to the AMS Executive Council.
Mark has served on the board for the last few years in a number of positions. Steve begins his first year and all ready he is taking everyone to task. I start my second year on the council, but in a special role.

[GradientKeeper~AtmosphericWrath -Far S.E Portland-]

A relatively nice day out there.
My Current Conditions
Temp: 63.1
Dewpoint: 36
Wind: ENE@ 9.1
Sky: Filtered Sunshine
The easterlies are becoming breezy east of I-205 and into the western Gorge. It feels really nice to be honest.

Surface gradients as of 12:00 PM
PDX-DLS -1.9
PDX-TTD -2.5
Corbett is now consistently gusting to 30mph, so that gradient is somewhat overachieving itself. Here's to a nice weekend everyone! We deserve it.

[HIO Phil (Punxsutawney)]

Hi Mark,

I don’t know if you were working last year on this date but we had a strong hail storm here by Sunset High at about 5:00-5:30pm with marble to dime sized hail that covered the roads deep enough to actually cause traction problems. From what I remember of the radar presentation this hail core stretched back to at least the Nike Campus so the Fox 12 studios would have gotten some as well. From looking at the archives there was a lot going on around the area that afternoon.

Nice today right now. Had the sunroof open and 65 degrees according to the car.

C-Mom, I hope your ok and there wasn't too much damage to the vehicle. I assume Bambi didn't make it. It has happened to freinds and relatives of mine and I've had a couple of very near misses in my lifetime.

[Sandi (Wilsonville)]

Are you OK C-Mom?