End Of Rain Season - First Day Of Meteorological Spring

March 1^st is the first day of Meteorological Spring.  Spring sure sounds nice, doesn’t it?  So today I am closing the books on February.  This “should” be the end of the theoretical “Rain Season” for us.  Traditionally for our area this is defined as the 4 month period from November through February. 

Uhmmm…  I think we can easily define this last 4 months as a RAIN season all in CAPS…..   There are some pretty remarkable numbers…
 

After last night’s little deluge, we ended up with 20.22” of rain in the last four months.   That is more rain than we had in the FULL YEAR (12 Months) of 2008 and 2013.  My data only goes back 12 years, but there are still some interesting numbers here.  Below is a bar graph of the last 12 “Rain Seasons”.

As you can see, the last 3 Rain Seasons have been pretty hefty…   On a side note, the 2006/2007 was the period including the Hanukkah  Eve storm.  That period we had some record rains for November (9.78”) and December (6.11”) …. 

If we sort this and put it into a matrix, it really shows the magnitude of this past four months and how the last few years have been pretty wet.

On a brighter note….  Let’s enjoy the first day of Meteorological Spring!  This video taken this morning.... :)

A Review Of The Past Few Days....

I have some catching up to do.  Thought I would just share some of the posts I have done in this past week....  This will be in reverse order:

Last night (2/26) there was a beautiful sky over Northern Hood Canal.  Aerial photography gives a totally different perspective....

The previous few days were very active.  This was what Sunday looked like.  Rain coming and going and feeding the convergence zone to our south....

Thought I would share the image I just made as my desktop:

This is an aerial video taken just before the graupel storm on Sunday....  

On Sunday there was another disabled ship towed into Seattle.  That makes 2 in 2 weeks.  This one was an engine room explosion off the coast of Oregon.  Nobody was injured, but the ship was disabled.  It was right around sunrise when it came by...

Here is a little more information about this ship and the incident:

https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDHSCG/bulletins/1dd571c

On Friday 2/23 my night cam picked up some "light pillars".  This is a vertical rainbow effect caused by light from the ground reflecting through ice crystals....

Later Friday morning a very unusual ship came by.  It came from Shanghai and was transporting new port cranes to Tacoma.  

On Thursday 2/22 I caught this image of the tug Eagle off Double Bluff...

After The Storm Aerial Photography - 2/22/18

The wind died down just enough for some aerial photography.  Most of the snow is gone, but there are still a few dicey spots on the roads....  It is beautiful out there though....

Winter Just Keeps Hanging On....

Wow… The NWS discussion this morning is bearing some tough news for those ready for spring…. It looks like winter will be hanging on with a vengeance for a while. I’ll try to paraphrase the key points here… 1. There will be snow today (up to 3 inches) on the coast and in SW Washington. We should be spared the majority of the white stuff today… Maybe a dusting… (Although, looking at the Doppler right now there is a lot of blue coming in our direction…) 2. On Wednesday another (slightly stronger) system will be moving in from the North. Forecasts are anywhere from a dusting to 3 inches depending on location later in the day. 3. Thursday… Probably clear. 4. The long term forecast is interesting. Plus, it is a simple read…. Here is the text: .LONG TERM... The pattern looks quite active during this period due to a series of storms moving across the region from the northwest. The screaming message is that it will be chilly and wet. Expect a strong system to impact the area the end of this week for the possibility of significant lowland snow in some areas, especially within any convergence zones. Another, possibly potent, lowland snow-maker might impact the CWA early next week. For now, look below normal temps and above normal precip during this period.

Yesterday and Today... A Lot Happened....

Edit: 2/19/18 - 8:30PM

One more in reverse order....

Mother Nature is putting it out faster than I can keep up with it....  I just found this in my archives from last night....  Wow....  City lights reflecting on the snow on the ground and in the air....  

This post is now in reverse order....  So much happened today, I thought I would just add it to what was already there.....  Late this afternoon we had a nice example of an "Inferior Mirage" over on Bush Point, which is roughly 8 miles away.  It looks like an inverse reflection on the water, but.... Rough water doesn't reflect. Inferior mirages are complicated to explain, but it has to do with the temp difference between the air and the water.... And.... a prism like effect that is actually "bending" the light... or so it seems. I might do a blog on this topic some day....  

The wind died down enough (barely) for me to put my "aerial camera" into the sky.... I still have a lot to learn to dial this in, but the beauty of the Pacific NorthWet made it easy to capture a beautiful, but REALLY cold day...

Then....  For anybody that is interested in "re-living" yesterday....  I put together a panorama time lapse of the day....  

Published This Morning

This morning I looked at my site and the wind chill was 17.9 degrees.  I know it was colder than that earlier in the day....  The "wind chill" / "feels like" temperature is on my site....  See pic below....

One of the benefits of this cold clear weather are the sunsets.  Last night I captured this image:

The winds are supposed to ease by this evening, but it will probably be colder tonight than last night.  Pretty remarkable weather for February....

Snow Survey....

Edit 2/18/18 - 12:45PM

The NWS just reissued a "Winter Weather Advisory" until 3:00 this afternoon.... Here is the text:

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 3 PM PST THIS

AFTERNOON...

* WHAT...Snow. Total snow accumulations of up to 2 inches are

expected.

* WHERE...The northern end of the Hood Canal area, including

Quilcene and the area near the Hood Canal Bridge.

* WHEN...Until 3 PM PST this afternoon.

* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Plan on difficult travel conditions, and

be prepared for reduced visibilities at times. There is a

possibility that the weight of the snow could snap small tree

limbs.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A Winter Weather Advisory for snow means periods of snow will

cause primarily travel difficulties. Be prepared for snow covered

roads and limited visibilities, and use caution while driving.

The latest road conditions for the state you are calling from can

be obtained by calling 5 1 1.

______________________________________________________________________

There was a brief lull in the weather this morning and I had an opportunity get the drone up to see how much snow fell in the area.  We had nothing at sea level and you can see it starts covering the roofs up around 200'.  The drone is flying at 390'.  Watch for the eagle at the top of the tree on the left as the drone goes up.  This video was taken around 10:30 this morning.

Shortly after making this video, the North wind kicked up and then it started to snow hard.  Our lawn is and roof is now white....

Multiple Advisories....

Right now we have 3 active weather advisories....

The Wind Advisory will be cancelled soon, only to "possibly" be replaced with another for North winds.  The wind switched to the north a little before noon today.  It produced a pretty nasty looking convergence zone that came down Admiralty Inlet.  We got a good dose of lumpy rain....

The second advisory is a "Winter Weather Advisory"....  It doesn't look like we will get more than a dusting, if anything at all....  Now that I have said that, we'll probably get a foot.... :)

Here is the text:

For Hood Canal Area, Washington
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 10PM PST SAT UNTIL 9AM PST SUN ...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 9 AM PST SUNDAY... * WHAT...SNOW EXPECTED. PLAN ON SLIPPERY ROAD CONDITIONS. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS OF UP TO TWO INCHES ARE EXPECTED. * WHERE...ANACORTES, MOUNT VERNON, EVERETT, BELLEVUE, PUYALLUP, CHEHALIS, QUILCENE, MATLOCK, HUMPTULIPS, AND FORKS. * WHEN...FROM 10 PM THIS EVENING TO 9 AM PST SUNDAY. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...BE PREPARED FOR REDUCED VISIBILITIES AT TIMES. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SNOW MEANS PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CAUSE PRIMARILY TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR SNOW COVERED ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES, AND USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING. THE LATEST ROAD CONDITIONS FOR THE STATE YOU ARE CALLING FROM CAN BE OBTAINED BY CALLING 5 1 1.

The third advisory, a "Coastal Flood Advisory" could be serious.  Tomorrow morning around 6:30 am we have a predicted high tide of 11.06 feet.  This is when the wind could be peaking.  No bank waterfront owners may have their hands full tomorrow.  Here is the text of this advisory:   

...COASTAL FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM TO 8 AM PST 

SUNDAY... 
The National Weather Service in Seattle has issued a Coastal 
Flood Advisory, which is in effect from 4 AM to 8 AM PST Sunday. 
Minor flooding along the beaches is possible early Sunday 
morning--mostly because of the action of wind waves around the 
time of high tide which is around daybreak on Sunday. 
High tide will be about one foot below the typical highest tide 
but windy weather and waves could cause some minor flooding along 
the beaches because of the waves. 
A north wind of 20 to 30 mph and wind waves 3 to 5 feet is 
expected over Puget Sound Sunday. The north wind should develop  

late tonight to around daybreak Sunday.