Coldest Pacific Northwest April in 36 Years
by Steve Pierce, Vice President, Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society
Disclaimer: The following information is not endorsed by any organization. Permission granted to reuse with courtesy given to author and quoted directly.
Vancouver, Washington (Friday, April 29th 2011) 1:30pm PT — This month will go into the record books as Portland’s coldest April in 36 years as well as third wettest in history (1940-2011) at the Portland Airport. Many other stations across the Pacific Northwest are also challenging long standing April records.
Here is a look at regional April 2011 temperatures and rainfall at several stations around the Pacific Northwest, through 4/28. These numbers are not likely to change much in the final 36 hours of the month. Astoria, Oregon has still not reached 60 degrees this calendar year, smashing the old record of April 19th 1945.
Station / April 2011 Ave Temp / Departure From Normal / April 2011 Rainfall / Departure From Normal
Astoria 44.8 -3.6 7.94 3.27
Hillsboro 45.5 -6.1 3.42 1.10
Salem 47.3 -2.6 3.82 1.22
Seattle 45.4 -4.6 4.34 1.89
Spokane 41.4 -4.8 1.71 0.53
Eugene 46.9 -2.8 3.47 0.01
Redmond, OR. 39.1 -6.7 0.28 -0.29
Medford 48.8 -2.6 2.10 0.87
Troutdale 47.2 -4.6 4.64 1.21
Vancouver, WA. 47.9 -1.9 4.23 1.92
Portland 47.8 -3.2 5.04 2.56
McMinnville 46.0 -4.4 4.13 1.47
Average All Stations 45.7 -4.0 3.76 1.31
With 5.04″ of precipitation, Portland has now moved into the #3 position on the all-time wettest April list (1940-2011) at the Portland International Airport. But with only 36 hours left in the month and showers decreasing, the chances of overtaking the top spot are fading. Here are the top five wettest April’s in Portland Airport history, through 12 noon today (4/29)
YEAR / APR rainfall (inches)
1993 5.26
1996 5.12
2011 5.04
1955 4.72
1988 4.57
Here are the top 5 coldest April’s on record at the Portland International Airport (1940-2011).
YEAR APR
1955 46.5
1964 46.7
1967 46.9
1975 47.3
2011 47.8
Gee. Weather is cyclical. Who’d a ever guessed? And next year might be different, and so what?
I spent 5 days in San Diego. got home yesterday. Never saw 65f for a high. It was raining a SE Alaska small drop soaker on tuesday May 17, when I flew out of there. Four days out of five were 58-62 degrees. Lovely weather. If you want warm weather, go to Fairbanks. Or Texas. No tornadoes in Fairbanks.
Prediction: an unusual number of drownings in the PNW in the next two months. Lots of cold snow melt, and a hot day, and bam! You are dead. And a big spring freshet down the Columbia and big ebbs on the bar. A recipe for swamped boats. That river can ebb at Astoria for the whole of the flood tide when the freshet gets there on a full moon. And more flash floods and Eastern Oregon swamped small towns as T storms fall on a big snow pack and the weather turns hot. Dicey deal. So who or what do you blame it on?? Or do you just accept weather for what it is you get, and go on from there??? Long, wet winters and lots of snow in the mountains is not unusual. Nor are light rain and little snow winters with hot, dry summers. We get them all. It is called “weather.” It is our “climate.” SOS, as some are wont to say. Same Old Stuff.
Or “some days you eat the bear, and some days the bear eats you.”
As of today, May 5th 2011, there are 202 inches (16.8 feet) of snow at Timberline Lodge [here]