By Rod Hill on 2015-03-31
Colder spring weather has arrived! A cold front last night dropped snow levels to 3,000 feet, bringing wintry travel conditions to Government Camp as shown on the ODOT camera this morning. Timberline Lodge reports 5" of snow with more on the way! Heaviest snow showers could produce a snow mix near 2,000 feet. Here in the valley, we are in store for days of sun breaks and heavy scattered showers. Ominous skies at times may bring hail and lightning.
Colder spring weather has arrived! A cold front last night dropped snow levels to 3,000 feet, bringing wintry travel conditions to Government Camp as shown on the ODOT camera this morning. Timberline Lodge reports 5" of snow with more on the way! Heaviest snow showers could produce a snow mix near 2,000 feet. Here in the valley, we are in store for days of sun breaks and heavy scattered showers. Ominous skies at times may bring hail and lightning.
A reminder that Portland is doing fine in the rain department. March will likely wrap up roughly an inch of above normal for the month. Any snow on Mt. Hood is welcome, but at this point, the season snowpack is likely to remain below 50% of normal through the final report May 1st.
The big story I want to highlight is an abrupt change in our weather pattern. The precipitation outlook map shows western Oregon shaded in green, meaning above normal moisture is likely through the first two weeks of April! Daytime highs will likely average below normal, while overnight lows will be normal to above.
Forecasters started to talk about the abrupt change to cool wet weather last week. However, the monthly outlook for April issued several weeks ago, failed to pick up on the weather change. At this point, I have little confidence for the May and June forecast. More to come on our summer outlook in the weeks ahead.
Meteorologist Rod Hill
Spring outlook calls for warm weather to continue