Tuesday, December 20, 2022

a white Christmas? Keep dreaming

 December has been calm though not bright - we are around 25% of normal for the month as of the 20th. A pre-Christmas chill is coming a few days too soon, and a tropical tap will erase any wintry weather with time to spare.

Our forecast over the last week has been very consistent: Chaos! A few days back we were looking at 6" snow on the ground this week.. but the Arctic front decided Seattle was far enough, give or take Olympia. We've been mid-30s and damp, while Anacortes had over 6" in our stead. Now the moisture is leaving and the front will drop for a very cold Wed/Thu spell. By Friday morning we could be under a coating of ice, which is very rare for us in the hill-top. By Friday evening the semi-tropical air will win out and a very wet Christmas weekend will erase the cold memories.

 

Here's the latest estimate for our transition at 750' elevation.  Over 1/4" of ice before we get above freezing. About 1½" of rain then takes over through the 25th, and more to follow.

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Transition Reality: mostly sleet not ZR, and less than 1/4" of that in total. Christmas Eve was all rain, but not warm enough to get the ice beneath actually melted. As of 3PM it's still in the 30s here on the hill-top.

 
Christmas Eve Update - here's a forecast of total 'rainfall' through 4PM on the 31st! We're ~6.2" short of our normalcy target. What does this show? 

Hm, 5-7 inches - that could work!

This would be the third consecutive month that we needed to make up over 50% of our deficit in the last week. We hit 69% and 95% for Oct/Nov, but have yet to reach 100%.. 

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