More Snow For Portland This Week?

I sincerely apologize for the delay in posts. I’ve had a very busy time lately – I moved to a new place in Northeast Portland (the Woodlawn neighborhood, to be precise) and have had very little time to blog. But now I have a much more relaxed schedule and can once again blog to my heart’s content!

The 2016-2017 winter has been an emotional ride for snow lovers living in Western Washington and Oregon. Some in Oregon have seen massive and unexpected snowfalls – Medford and other areas in Southern Oregon/Northern California saw a major snowstorm January 3-4, and the SW Washington/NW Oregon area saw an unexpected snowstorm just a week later on January 10-11 that dropped 13 inches of snow over Downtown Portland. Meanwhile, most folks in the Seattle region have seen less than an inch this January, with the notable exception of a convergence zone over Southern Seattle that dropped several inches to ring in the New Year.

This week, snow is once again in the forecast for Portland, but not for Seattle! You have to feel for Seattlites – it ain’t easy seeing your neighbor get all the fun.

We currently have a Rex block in the Eastern Pacific (a ridge of high pressure north of an area of low pressure), a scenario we have seen many times so far this winter. Because this block is far enough offshore, there is a large trough over our area as the jet sinks down from Alaska along the eastern side of this ridge.

Northerly flow and cooler air will start flowing into the region today. This will be far warmer than the previous “arctic blasts” we’ve seen this winter. Temperatures in the Seattle area are expected to be in the upper 30s to low 40s this week. Temperatures near Portland will reach the mid 40s today, but a strong east wind will funnel cooler air from Eastern Washington and Oregon through the Columbia River Gorge later this week, keeping highs in the mid-30s Wednesday through Friday. I’ll be keeping an eye on the winds at Crown Point – gusts there will likely hit 80 mph both Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

We may see a few flurries on Wednesday, but our first real chance at snow comes Thursday as a front moves into the cold air mass over the area. This front does not appear to be particularly moist, so at this point, only a trace to 2 inches are expected for the Portland metro area.

As the ensembles below show, there is a ton of uncertainty in snow amounts, with some members showing nothing and others showing nearly a foot. Hopefully the ensembles will come into better agreement as time goes on.

Thanks for reading!
Charlie