First, the high temperatures today. Lots of locations got to 60F, but some places in the western foothills of the Cascades and Olympics surged to 70F and more, as warm air aloft subsided and warmed by compression.
Like 80s? No need to go to Mexico or Hawaii...a drive to the coastal foothills near Tillamook would have done it.
We broke some all time daily records for temperatures at 850hPa (around 5000ft) today. Here is the climatology of 850 hPa temperatures at Quillayute (UIL) on the WA coast for the 0000 UTC (4 PM PST) radiosonde launch time. The grey dot is today The top red line is the DAILY record--we beat it. The black line is the average. Today, we were well above the average temperatures for mid-summer. If there had been summer sun, we would have been in the 80s near sea level.
With warm air aloft, and residual cool air at the surface, there was a very strong inversion (temperature increasing with height) above us....here is the plot of temperature (degrees C) over NE Seattle this morning every hour from 4 AM to 10 AM. Time are in UTC (the one ending in 18 is 10 AM). Temperatures increased about 10C (or about 18F) between the surface and 800 m (about 2500ft). Would have been fun to climb one of the foothills peaks this AM...the contrast would have been amazing.
Well, if you liked today, wait until tomorrow....the latest UW WRF hi-res model forecast for 2 PM suggests lots of 70s in the foothills. Much cooler in eastern WA.
Northwest Weather Workshop
The big local weather workshop is less than a month away (March 4-5, Seattle). If you are interested in attending, the agenda and registration information can be found here.
I witnessed this effect today around sunset in Astoria. The difference between sea level and the 700ft+ level at the top of the Column 15 mins later was astounding. The strong and constant winds from the east were positively balmy. If I had to guess, I would put it at 70F.
ReplyDeleteOnly recorded 58 here today near the Bellingham airport.
ReplyDeleteAlready (8:30 a.m. Tuesday) 47 degrees at the top of Skyline, Stevens Pass Resort. At the base, it is 32. It will get warmer.
ReplyDeleteAnd on Monday NW Avalanche Center recorded 63 degrees at Paradise on Mt Rainier, approx 5,400 ft elevation.
ReplyDeleteGoing to Whistler this weekend. :( Our bad luck with timing winter trips with snow continues.
ReplyDeleteSouthern California is pretty darn warm, as well. Looking at the 10 day forecast for Los Angeles is somewhat disappointing. No rain forecast. El Nino looks like it might be a big bust for Southern California in February.
ReplyDeleteI am not complaining, Cliff. Just disappointed because they need some rain. January precipitation was only a bit above average and February looks to be well below average.