May 2011 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, May 2011 in Hood River was way colder, way cloudier, and way wetter, with above average winds.

May continued the increasingly annoying pattern of disappointing, disgusting, and downright despicable weather this Spring. Day after day, week after week, month after month of cold, cloudy, wet, hope-destroying weather. Am I bitter? Yes, but I'll get over it, and then I'll be complaining about the way too hot, way too dry, and way too windy Summer weather.

Anyway, the average temperature this May of 52.9° was colder than long term averages (56.2°), and even more colder than the recent (2001-2010) average of 57.4°. We can, however, take a small amount of perverse satisfaction in that it wasn't quite as cold as last May. And we can only hope this isn't some sort of diabolical pattern emerging for Spring in the NW.

Speaking of cold, here's Mark Nelsen, from Portland's Ch12, with his May summary. Note that the darkest blue areas, setting more local records in the US than any other area, are right in our area!

Here in Hood River, the maximum temperature was 74°, and the minimum was 32°. The high heat index for the month was 72°, and the low wind chill was 32°.

Going along with the continued cloudy trend this Spring, solar radiation averaged only 487 Ly/day, which was pretty dimly lit compared to an average April solar radiation of 546 Ly/day.

Official precipitation totaled 3.12", compared to an average May of 1.15". My station recorded 3.41". The all time record for May rainfall in Hood River is 3.34" (2005), which means I had a record monthly rainfall at my house, but alas, not an official record for HR. Sigh... the story of my life...

It rained on 11 of the 30 days in the month, which is, if you're counting, a third of the time. The maximum daily rainfall (1.55") occurred on May 15th.

The 24 hour average wind speed for May at my somewhat sheltered weather station was 3.9 mph, compared to the historical average of 3.6 mph. The peak wind gust was 35 mph on May 14th. Wind speeds at other less sheltered locations, such as the Columbia River, were undoubtedly higher. Barometric pressure peaked at 30.47", with a low of 29.53".

There were 3 local weather records in May. On May 15th, MCAREC received 1.55" of rain, blasting by the old record of 0.64 set in 2001. On May 28th, the high temperature only reached 56°, breaking the old "low high" record of 57° in 2006. And, on May 31st, 0.95" of rain, which surpassed the old record of 0.75" in 1993.

These monthly summaries use the official NOAA data from MCAREC when available. Here's their data for May 2011. Some data isn't available there, so that comes from my station located near May and Rand Streets in Hood River. To view my weather station's data for May 2011, click here.

Luckily (or unluckily, depending on one's beliefs), the Rapture didn't occur on May 21 as predicted. Not to worry though, the next ETA is October 21.

Thunderstorm!

On June 5th, as the first heat wave of the year (80+ degrees for 2 days) was winding down, an upper level low off the California coast began spinning moisture up in our direction.

And then, against all normal odds, at approximately 7:30 pm, a thunderstorm of epic proportions (for Hood River) moved in overhead, and remained parked here for an amazing 90 minutes of awesome lightning, a number of almost instantaneous thunderclaps, and torrential downpours.

My weather station recorded 1.01 inches during the event, most of it happening in the first 30 minutes or so. At one point, I recorded a rainfall rate of 5.76"/hour, which is the highest rate I've seen since I've been paying attention to such stuff. It remains to be seen what MCAREC, the official NOAA station in Hood River received, but their automated station nearby registered 0.98". The previous record rainfall for June 5th in HR was 0.48" in 1993.

Ok, so this was probably just a 3 or so on a scale of 1-10 for typical Midwest t-storms, but still... for Hood River, which has this uncanny ability to divert thunderstorms around so they don't happen here, it was totally awesome.

Gary Boggs captured a couple of videos here and here, and below is a video from the Hood River News on the event. If I find more photos/videos, I'll post 'em.

April 2011 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, April 2011 in Hood River was colder, cloudier, and wetter, with about average winds.

All in all, April was a lot like March. Snow piled up in the mountains, rain piled up in the lowlands, and complaints piled up amongst those of us who, quite frankly, would really like an occasional warm, dry spell this time of the year.

The average temperature of 46.2° was colder than long term averages (49.8°), and also colder than the more recent (2001-2010) average of 49.6°. Interestingly, Springs here have been cooler than the long term averages for the past 4 years. The maximum temperature was 66°, and the minimum was 29°. The high heat index for the month was 65°, and the low wind chill was 29°.

Going along with the continued cloudy trend this Spring, solar radiation averaged 419 Ly/day, compared to an average April of 439 Ly/day.

Official precipitation totaled 3.88", compared to an April average of 1.64". My station recorded 5.13". It rained on 16 of the 30 days in the month, which, if one does the math, is... half of the time. The maximum daily rainfall (1.12") occurred mostly on April 4th, but gets associated with April 5th, because that's the way these things are done. Don't ask me why.

The 24 hour average wind speed for April at my somewhat sheltered weather station was 3.2 mph, compared to the historical average of 3.1 mph. The peak wind gust was 29 mph on April 1st. Wind speeds at other less sheltered locations, such as the Columbia River, were undoubtedly higher. Barometric pressure peaked at 30.44", with a low of 29.59".

There were 3 local weather records in April, all related to rain. On April 5th, MCAREC received 1.12" of rain, blasting by the old record of 0.78 set in 2009. On April 16th, rain totaled 0.81, breaking the old record of 0.49" in 1996. And on April 26th, 0.52" of rain, which surpassed the old record of 0.43" in 1978.

These monthly summaries use the official NOAA data from MCAREC when available. Some data isn't available there, so that comes from my station located near May and Rand Streets in Hood River. To view my weather station's data for April 2011, click here.

One cold, wet month leads to another. Hopefully, a fix is coming.

March 2011 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, March 2011 in Hood River was colder, cloudier, and wetter, with slightly below average winds.

The month came in like a lion, and pretty much went out the same way. We couldn't reach a high temperature of 60° to save our lives. First it snowed, then it rained and rained, and it generally stayed cool and cloudy far more than it should have. And to top it off, my weather station went tits up (so to speak), and was out of commission for 8 days.

As a result, it's occurred to me that the data I list here each month really should all come from HOXO or MCAREC whenever possible, as they are the official weather data keepers for Hood River. If they don't have the data available, I'll use my station's data, and revise it when the official data is available. To view my station's data for March 2011, click here.

The average temperature of 42.3° was cooler than long term averages (43.8°), and also cooler than the more recent (2001-2010) average of 44.6°. The maximum temp was 57°, and the minimum was 27°. The high heat index for the month was 60°, and the low wind chill was 29°.

Did I mention that it was a cloudy month? Solar radiation averaged 218 Ly/day, compared to an average of 294 Ly/day. In fact, this was the least sunny March since 2000, which is as far back as I've bothered to look.

Precipitation totaled 5.96", almost double the March average of 3.12". It rained on 26 of the 31 days in the month, which was ridiculous. The maximum daily rainfall (1.57") occurred on March 1st. Also on that date, we had 7" of snow (the total for the month), with an average March having 2.2" of snow.

The 24 hour average wind speed for March was 2.6 mph, compared to the historical average of 2.9 mph. The peak wind gust was 30 mph on March 30. Wind speeds at other less sheltered locations, such as the Columbia River, were undoubtedly higher. Barometric pressure peaked at 30.29", with a low of 29.45".

There were 2 local weather records in March. Oddly enough, one record on the first day of the month, and one record on the last day of the month. Kind of like bookends or something. On 3/1, the rain/melted snow totaled 1.57", blasting by the old record of 1.06" set in 1955. On 3/31, the low temperature of 50° set a new "high low" record for the date (old record 48° in 2003).

A very cool time lapse video of auroras.

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...