Well, I’m certainly regretting leaving Portland to come up to Seattle. Our heat in our house isn’t working, so I decided to flee up to my parents’ house in Seattle for warmth. Had I known that Portland was going to get a foot of snow Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I definitely would have stayed!
NW Oregon and SW Washington are currently in the midst of a major snowstorm. They were predicted to get 1-4 inches tonight and tomorrow, but many locations have already topped half a foot, and some are approaching a foot of snow with lots more to go.
Take a look at some pictures around the Portland metro area. It is truly a winter wonderland down there. The two pictures below were taken by my friend Chris Callais of Tigard. As of 11 pm, he was reporting 4 inches of snow with heavy snow continuing to fall.
Amounts are even higher further north. Ed Kalix in the Lloyd District reported over 8 inches at 11 pm tonight with heavy snow continuing to fall.
And finally, Gabriel Graff took it upon himself to build a giant snowman. It’s not often that there’s enough snow in Portland to build a snowman, let alone one twice as tall as you. Nice job Gabriel!
Why did we have so much more snow than predicted? Well, as the low pressure system that was predicted to give 1-4 inches of snow to the area moved onshore the Central Oregon Coast, it spread a warm front through the region that was much stronger and moister than modeled. Additionally, this warm front interacted with the cold easterly outflow coming out of the Columbia River Gorge, dramatically strengthening it in the process via a process known as “frontogenesis.” Snowfall rates over the area have been extremely heavy – up to 4 inches an hour in short bursts – and there has even been some “thundersnow,” which is a rare occurrence ANYWHERE in the world, let alone the Pacific Northwest! The radar loop below shows the heavy snow coming in around 6 pm, and as you can see, it hasn’t let up since then.
The most recent model runs show this frontal band weakening soon, meaning the widespread 1-2″-per-hour snowfall rates will end within the hour for most folks. However, lighter snow will continue through noon tomorrow. The latest graphic from the NWS gives widespread 8-12 inch storm totals around the Portland metro area, and I expect there will be quite a few locations with over a foot.
As for Seattle? Dry and cold, with flurries stalling at our city limits.
Charlie
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