January Revisited

Compared to historical data, January in Hood River was warmer, wetter, and windier than average.

The average temperature was 2.8 degrees warmer than long term averages, but only 0.3 degrees warmer than more recent averages (2000-2007). Wind speeds were twice the average, largely due to some strong Chinook winds in the first third of the month.

January was a study in contrasts. The month immediately started off with a warm and wet pineapple express, setting rainfall records. On the 14th, a classic Gorge Inversion set in, and lasted at least 9 days, way too long. The rest of the month was a mix of rain, a little snow... more gray, and some sun.

There were 3 official records surpassed in January. On New Year's Day, the rain total of 3.24" easily broke the old record (for that date) of 1.60" (1997), and the daily record for ANY day in January (previously 2.48" Jan 6, 1948). And, on January 18, at the peak of the inversion event, the barometric pressure reached 30.84. The previous high at our station was 30.83 (2004).

The data below is from our home weather station. The "historical average" numbers for temperature and rainfall are from the Hood River MCAREC data. Historical wind average is from our own station's 2000 to 2007 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 our station is considerably lower than on the Columbia River.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	58	14	36.7	33.9
Wind (mph)	37		3.0	1.6
Rainfall (in)	3.24		6.03 (total)	5.20