Weather Station outage August 31st - September 2nd

Data from the weather station from the Afternoon of August 31st, 2012, through the evening of September 2nd, 2012 is void, due to a typical bug with the WMR100 receiver.  Station was reset September 2nd to resume normal data logging.  Sourcing data for archive in Weather Watcher reports from Shoreline Central Market's weather station.

Raingauge tipped on accident.

Sunday evening at about 5pm I was untangling an extension cord on the deck, which happens to be the same deck that the rain gauge is mounted on.  In the process I accidentally bumped the rain gauge, which caused it to register 0.09 inches of rainfall.  This data is false, as we had a bright and sunny day with no precipitation.

Summer is here

Recorded a high temperature Saturday afternoon of 87.3°F, first time we've gone past 85°F since August 15th, 2010.  A possible high above 90°F is in line for us Sunday afternoon.

More thunderstorms tonight

This has really turned out to be a very active past couple of weeks for unstable air and thunder storms in the Puget Sound region.   Air has been particularly humid as well.

More thunderstorms are expected to roll through the area tonight.   I will attempt to get some photos this time around.  :-)

Rain gauge problems

The problems with wireless technology sometimes is that they lose connection.  In this case the connection is trying to get through a 1 foot thick concrete wall foundation.  During the entire month of July until July 14th, 2012, the rain gauge has not been recording data.  Data from July 1st to July 14th 2012 has been sourced from the Shoreline, WA Central Market weather station.  This data is for use in the Shoreline Area News blog weather posts and personal research.

The receiver for all the data has been moved to an above ground room now, and has been much more reliable with data since.  I also performed maintenance on the sensor array's, cleaned and replaced all batteries with new lithiums, that should last through next winter.

Gold Bar Snow photo from January 15th, 2012.

Weather photo from Gold Bar Washington, Sunday morning on January 15th, 2012.

Week of snow, January 14th-20th timeline

• Saturday January 14th: Snow showers no significant accumulations.
• Sunday January 15th: Snow showers, but not much in the way of accumulation.
• Monday January 16th: National Weather Service issued two winter storm watches for our area, one for Monday night-Tuesday, 2nd for Wednesday. More snow showers, little accumulation.
• Tuesday January 17th: 2 inches of new snow, some neighborhoods got up to 3 inches. Winter weather advisory was issued as a result. Winter storm warning issued for Wednesday.
• Wednesday January 18th: 2 new inches of snow, then a freezing mist leaving all surfaces, trees coated in ice, the weight caused several power outages throughout the area.
• Thursday January 19th: 2-3 new inches of snow. This was the day it was supposed to rain and didn't. Turned out to be the biggest snow day of the week, with temperatures hovering around 26°F all day, and moderate snow fall until about 4pm in the afternoon. Snow flurries throughout the rest of the evening. 
• This brought the total snow accumulation on the ground to 5-7 inches. Some daily melting was occurring during the week as temperatures rose during the day above freezing until Wednesday. The National Weather Service issued an Ice storm warning for the Seattle area, however we received snow, and no freezing rain after all.
• Friday January 20th: Dusting of snow overnight, temperatures started slowly warming from 25.3°F starting at 1am, breaking the 32.0°F mark at about 7:30 AM. The changeover to rain happened as the warm front started pushing through the area late this morning and this afternoon. Temperatures were in the upper 30's by late afternoon and the melting process began.

Shoreline Schools closed today

Going against their own winter policy, Shoreline School District originally decided to start with a 2 hour delay, however after most buses were within 5 minutes of delivering students to the high school the district called it a snow day.

Currently there is about 1 inch of snow on the ground, 32°F and moderate snowfall.  Winter Weather advisory calls for 1-3 inches of snow today until 4pm.   Winter Storm warning is in effect from midnight tonight until Wednesday night for 5-10 inches of new snow.

Arctic event, with snow for Shoreline and surrounding areas

In recent weeks there has been a bit of chatter about an Arctic air mass breaking loose and heading towards the Pacific Northwest.  It appears this is now more likely than it was before, and mainstream TV forecasters are now indicating a change to cold weather.  I am still following the developments but right now it appears that rain will arrive Saturday afternoon.   Saturday night the first cold air wave will push through, changing the rain to snow.  From Sunday through Tuesday it appears there will be hit and miss snow showers throughout Puget Sound, however a Puget Sound Convergence zone is expected to develop over North King County, and Southern Snohomish County.  This puts Shoreline, Lake Forest Park, Edmonds, Mountlake Terrace, Brier, and Lynnwood right in the bull's eye.  In this area 4-6 inches or more of snow is expected.

     Later next week, Thursday-Friday a bigger, more wide spread snow event is now shaping out to be very possible for the entire region.   I will continue to watch this event as it develops and post updates on Twitter and here.