April bizarre

No not a bazaar. Just.. bizarre.

Portland had measurable snow later than ever before. We had three inches - twice! - on the 11th and 14th, with ~1/2-1.5 inch each day in between. It was pretty much gone each evening, though some of it remained where it slid off the roofs. 

We had about an inch in April 2018 (on the 3rd), now 2022 ends with 8½". More than any March up here, and more than all but one January. It's been windy too, and a few cracks of thunder (not unusual in spring around here). We hit 72° on the 7th, four days later it's snowing. Most parts of the country above 45°N do that - but it's so rare as to be unprecedented 'round these parts!

A most unusual April.

p.s. we ended at over 200% of normal precip. Snowmelt included. :^O

words cannot convey this..

 so we'll go with an image.. or two pasted ones! 

Rain, snow, wind, and thunder. Yikes!

Our latest text update is for 4-8" overnight then 3-4" tomorrow. The chart shows 9", plus snow showers from dusk to dawn most of the week; close enough. With the wind coming from almost due north, it will be interesting to see if it reaches us in our little hollow; SW and S winds never really find us - though the trees on the hill-top make plenty of noise.

We've had snow pellets and wet snow several times today, and we're in the mid-40s this afternoon. We await tomorrow with incredulity, as mid-April is pretty much unprecedented even at 700 feet up! Easter has been cold and blustery before, but this is the latest Easter than I can recall - so comparing it to late March isn't really fair.

Update #1 - Awoke on the 11th to 3 inches of snow. A bit lower than expected but the evening forecast was for 3-5 inches. The north side of the Willapa Hills did get the north wind; Ryderwood checked in with 5½" so it's all about location. Future days should include snow showers in the dark and rain showers in daylight, but no expected accumulation.

Update #2 - Final scores. Pretty much gone every evening except for where piles accumulated off roof or cars. So strange to have this in April!!

sports 'n weather update

SPORTS: After numerous years of not-quite, 2022 is looking like the year I resume my golf hobby. I've abused a few buckets of golf balls, practiced my putting stroke and wiped the rust off my long-forsaken chrome-plated shafts. I've even sent the irons in to have the grips replaced! Though I can't recall doing so, the grips of my metal/woods apparently were replaced in the not-so-recent past.

I've lived at this location nearly eight years but only played the front nine of one of the two local courses. That location also has a chip&putt 6-hole layout - which I haven't yet played. This feels like the year to revisit these old haunts. In the good old days I had an eagle at the local place, holing out a 140-yard iron on a par four; perhaps seeing that hole again will reawaken some good swing thoughts!

Clearly the long layoff means I have no handicap - but the memory of holding one near 13 around 1990. So thirty years ago I was pretty good! By now my aging swing needs to be supplemented by my vast experience and profound knowledge.. sounds like I need to get used to a mid-20s handicap for a goal.

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WEATHER: March was our first below-average rainfall month since August, though we still reached 94%. The next 36 hours are expected to contribute strongly to our 5" April average, and the forecast fetch of moisture comes from the Phillipines via Japan - so I'd expect two inches to be reasonable. Satellite image below was assembled at 7:20 pacific (daylight?) time. Impressive, but it will buckle and rearrange itself before Japan's weather hits our coast.. somewhere?

Also, we're within two inches of a slightly different rainfall record. The wet/dry seasons here (as everywhere else) are not often tied to calendar months. It's quite common for late October and early April to be damp, so I calculate our precip not just by Oct-Mar but also 10-16 through 4-15. Four years ago was the wettest of our six documented years at this site - but we're catching up!