We live in a completely different world now than just a week ago. I can’t even imagine what the next weeks, months, or even hours may hold, but I know one thing: this virus will completely restructure our society, economy, and culture, and hopefully towards a more equitable, sustainable direction.
In this time of great change, I feel lucky to be tied to the Earth sciences, and meteorology in particular. The weather doesn’t care about the virus, and tracking the weather helps me keep a sense of continuity in a period of enormous upheaval.
We’ve had beautiful weather so far today as to a massive ridge of high pressure in the Northern Pacific (see above) extends eastward and glances the Pacific Northwest. It’s a great day to get outside for a socially-distant walk, something doctors say is perfectly acceptable.
First Beach at La Push looks pretty fantastic, though the waves are a little small if you were planning on going surfing.
Crater Lake also looks spectacular. Some clouds have popped up as the afternoon has progressed due to the sun warming the surface and destabilizing the atmosphere,
Our nice weather will continue this weekend, albeit with slightly cooler temperatures on Saturday and increasing clouds on Sunday. But by Monday, we will be in a dramatically different pattern as a deep trough sets up shop off the West Coast, giving us a typical springtime pattern of showers and sunbreaks with highs on either side of 50 through Friday, moderating to the mid 50s by Saturday and Sunday.
The cooler and slightly wetter-than-average weather will help restore some of the snowpack over the Oregon Cascades. After a huge gain from well-below-average conditions as the beginning of 2020 to near average by mid-January, total snowpack has been slow to grow ever since, and for the Southern Oregon Cascades, it has stagnated entirely.
The below chart from the UW WRF shows 1-2 feet of snow over the higher elevations of the Cascades – not a ton, but enough to nudge those snowpack percentages a few points higher. Too bad the resorts aren’t open, but perhaps it’s a great opportunity to get some socially-distant backcountry skiing in!
To summarize, we’ll have a very pleasant weekend with mostly sunny skies and highs in the low 60s, but we’ll be much cooler next week with highs near 50 through the end of the week and showers at times.
Stay safe and be mindful,
Charlie
