February 2011 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, February in Hood River was cooler, less sunny, and average in both precipitation and wind.

February was one of those months that started off one way, and ended up the opposite. In this case, it started out unseasonably warm and dry, setting records, almost Spring-like. That got everybody's hopes up, including plants that started blooming weeks before they normally would. And, of course, that set the stage for how the month ended up: arctic air moved in, setting record lows, with some snow and heavy rain to top it all off.

Overall, the average temperature of 37.5° was slightly cooler than long term averages (38.0°), and also cooler than the more recent (2001-2010) average of 39.8°.

Solar radiation at HOXO averaged 172 Ly/day, compared to an average February of 187 Ly/day.

Precipitation totaled 3.64" for the month, which was pretty darn close to average (3.84"). We had 4.5" of snow for the month, less than the long term average of 7.3".

The 24 hour average wind speed for February was 1.7 mph, compared to the historical average of 1.8 mph. The high wind gust at my station was 33 mph on Feb 22.

The high heat index for the month was 57°, and the low wind chill was 6°. Barometric pressure peaked at 30.78", with a low of 29.52.

It was a busy month for setting local weather records: 6 total. On 2/5, the low of 46° set a new "high low" (previous 43° in 1961). The next day, the low of 48° set another high low (previous 45° in 1961). These were, as mentioned above, during the Warm Part of February.

Then, on 2/25, the Cold Part of February kicked in, setting a "low high" record of 27° (previous 31° in 1962). This was followed on 2/26 by TWO temperature records on one day: the low of 8° (previous record 11° in 1962), and the "low high" of 31° (previous 35° in 1993).

Finally, on 2/28, the official rain total of 0.99" barely squeaked by the old record of 0.98" set in 2009. My station had 1.42", for what that's worth.

The tabular data below is from my home weather station. To view its February 2011 monthly summary and graphs at Weather Underground, click here.

The "historical average" numbers for temperature and rainfall are from the Hood River MCAREC data. Historical wind average is from my station's 2001 to 2010 data. Note that average wind speeds include all 24 hours of the day and night, which is why they are way lower than daytime peak winds. In addition, the wind speed at this station is considerably lower than on the Columbia River.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	57	7	37.5	38.0
Wind (mph)	33		1.8	1.7
Rainfall (in)	1.42		3.64 (total)	3.84

Ready for Spring? All you have to do is dream...

January 2011 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, January in Hood River was sunnier, warmer, drier, and average in wind.

"Sunnier"? WTF? Where did that additional adjective in my summary sentence come from? Well, as an indication of just how crazy I am, I've starting to track "solar radiation" for Hood River, as measured at the HOXO station. Solar radiation can function as a gauge of the relative amount of sunshine vs clouds, and is measured in Langley units (Ly) And since I sometimes wonder if any particular month was cloudier than average, this is a way to put some data behind it. So, I can wonder about other things instead, like: why do I even bother? :)

For January, the solar radiation averaged 96 Ly/day, compared to an average January of 84 Ly/day. By comparison, January of last year was considerably lower at 72 Ly, which was due to a LOT of inversion clouds that month. We were quite fortunate this January, as cloudy inversions didn't happen very frequently, and when they did, the sun managed to mostly burn through by afternoons.

Temperature-wise, the average temperature of 38.7° was way warmer than long term averages (33.5°), and also warmer than the more recent (2001-2010) average of 36.7°.

January precipitation (3.69") was below average (5.13"). The month started out dry, and pretty much stayed dry. Except for a week in the middle of the month, when arctic air moved in, it snowed, then freezing rain, then a Pineapple Express moved through, it rained, the snow melted, and the rivers rose. For details, refer to the "Flood On The Hood" post below.

It wasn't an especially snowy January. We had 5" of snow for the month, less than the long term average of 14.6".

The 24 hour average wind speed for January was 1.7 mph, compared to a historical average of... wow... exactly 1.7 mph! The high wind gust at my station was 38 mph on Jan 17th.

The high heat index for the month was 57°, and the low wind chill was 18°. Barometric pressure peaked at 30.67", with a low of 29.81".

There were 2 local weather records set in February. On 1/14, the "high low" of 46° broke the old record of 42 (1982). And then, as the Pineapple Express roared through, HOXO received 1.12" of rain, which broke the old record of 1.07" (1953).

The tabular data below is from my home weather station. To view its January 2011 monthly summary and graphs at Weather Underground, click here.

The "historical average" numbers for temperature and rainfall are from the Hood River MCAREC data. Historical wind average is from my station's 2001 to 2010 data. Note that average wind speeds include all 24 hours of the day and night, which is why they are way lower than daytime peak winds. In addition, the wind speed at this station is considerably lower than on the Columbia River.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	57	18	38.7	33.5
Wind (mph)	38		1.7	1.7
Rainfall (in)	1.01		3.69 (total)	5.13

❤ Valentine's Day and American Heart Month, both in February. Coincidence? I think not. ❤

Flood On The Hood!

On Saturday, January 15, a warm moisture-laden Pineapple Express took direct aim at the Pacific Northwest. Freezing levels skyrocketed, moving high above the ski areas, and 5-6 inches of orographically (I love that word) enhanced rain fell on Mt Hood over the weekend. Timberline Lodge recorded the most, with a bit over 9" rain. Hood River itself received about 1.5" of rain during that time.

As a result, the flow and level of the Hood river started rising dramatically, and kept rising until it topped out Sunday afternoon at 12.9 feet on the Tucker Bridge gauge. Peak flow was estimated to be 13,500 cfs. That was just barely into the flood stage, but still way impressive. This was the highest flow on the Hood since Nov 2006. For a list of peak flows dating back to 1898, click here.

This was almost certainly the most photographed and videotaped flood on the Hood ever. I've assembled some links to videos and pictures below, and will add more as I find them. Let me know if I've missed any.

Gary Boggs (waveguru) won the honors of having the first video posted on YouTube (the video above), followed by this video, both taken near the old Copper Dam site.

Dan Kleinsmith posted this video and photo, also taken near the Copper Dam site.

OleFOgey took this video of river action at various locations in the upper valley.

The view at Tollbridge Road, posted by dherneisen.

Upstream from the railroad bridge, Temira's video.

Near the mouth of the Hood, Mike S. captured the river at the railroad bridge.

And the winner for the best overall video collage of the event, this from Hood River News/Adam Lapierre.

On the other side of the mountain, the Sandy river raged, isolating some homeowners and doing a considerable amount of damage. Professional quality video.

December 2010 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, December in Hood River was warmer, wetter, and less windy.

At my weather station, the average temperature of 36.2° was warmer than long term averages (35.7°), and also warmer than the more recent (2000-2009) average of 35.6°.

The high heat index for the month was 51°, and the low wind chill was 20°. Barometric pressure peaked at 30.40", with a low of 29.22".

December's precipitation (6.91") was above average (5.83"). The month started out dry, but turned quite wet from 12/8 to 12/14, as a moisture-laden atmospheric river took direct aim at the Pacific Northwest. 75% of the monthly precipitation fell in that time frame. That was followed by 3 days of snow, during which a total of 10 inches of snow fell. All in all, we had 11" of snow for the month, higher that the long term snow average of 8.7".

Given that this was a strong, well established La Nina winter, with the jet stream fire hose pointed firmly at us, things took an odd turn halfway though the month. The jet stream moved south big time, drenching California with record rains and snowfall. Our precipitation fell off dramatically for the rest of the month. It turns out this may have been due to a shorter term climate cycle called the Arctic Oscillation, which turned strongly negative, and pushed the jet stream further south.

I happened to be on vacation in southern California around Christmas, and had great fun watching the flash floods move through Palm Springs.

Meanwhile, back in Hood River, the 24 hour avg wind speed for December was 0.9 mph, compared to a historical average of 1.5 mph. The high wind gust at my station was 34 mph on Dec 29th.

There was 1 local weather record set in December. On 12/12, at the peak of the Pineapple Express, we received 1.61" of rain, which broke the old record of 1.55" (1946).

The tabular data below is from my home weather station. To view its December 2010 monthly summary and graphs at Weather Underground, click here.

The "historical average" numbers for temperature and rainfall are from the Hood River MCAREC data. Historical wind average is from my station's 2000 to 2009 data. Note that average wind speeds include all 24 hours of the day and night, which is why they are way lower than daytime peak winds. In addition, the wind speed at this station is considerably lower than on the Columbia River.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	51	22	36.2	35.7
Wind (mph)	34		0.9	1.5
Rainfall (in)	1.45		6.91 (total)	5.83

California... a nice place to have grown up, and to visit, but luckily, I didn't get stuck there again.

2010 Weather Summary

For some unknown reason, I did a yearly weather summary last January. For the same unknown reason, it only seems fitting that I should continue the tradition this January. Maybe some January I'll remember the reason, and hopefully it will be so trivial that I can ignore it from then on.

But, I can't ignore it now, so here goes. 2010 in a nutshell:

2010 in Hood River was warmer than long term averages, but cooler than recent (2001-2009) averages. Precipitation was above average, and wind speed was somewhat below average.

The average temperature for 2010 was 51.9 degrees, which oddly enough was the exact average temperature for the previous year, 2009. This was 1.3 degrees warmer than long term averages, but 0.4 degrees cooler than recent averages. I thought it was going to be a cooler average temperature than it was, given that this was "The Year Without Much Of A Summer". But, that's yearly averages for ya.

We received 34.41" of precipitation, which was 3.86" above average. A total of 20" of snow fell, well below the average of 36".

The 24 hour average wind speed for the year was 2.4 mph, which is lower than the 2001-2009 average of 2.9 mph. In fact, overall, this was the least windy year since 2001. Now, I know that wind sports enthusiasts, who remember the summer of 2010 as a Most Excellent One for wind, are probably saying "Dude, you're totally crazy". I won't dignify that remark with a response, other than to say "Oh yeah?? Hey, it takes one to know one!"

But, back to the yearly wind average, the higher wind speeds in the summer months were averaged down by the lower wind speeds the other months of the year.

Click here for all of my weather station's 2010 data on Weather Underground, with nice 12-month graphs and all 365 days of action packed weather-type data.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	100.7	14.0	51.9	50.6
Wind (mph)	38		2.4	2.9
Rainfall (in)	1.61		34.41	30.55
Barometric (in Hg)	30.66	29.04

Just another manic New Year... I was just in the middle of a dream...