Western Washington Severe Weather December 2008 Day2 10:38pm

Real Snow Accumulation in South Kitsap!



There is no wind to speak of at 10:38pm, but the snow it is a fallin'! At just 10:25pm it had just dusted the fir branches outside my window. This little pocket of the county doesn't usually get snow unless the rest is pretty well covered, so I presume the rest of the county may have a solid 1/2 inch by now or more. The pacific satellite image shows clouds from the north out of Alaska and the south out of Hawaii converging and swerving just off the Wa/Or coast, and then dropping down into southern CA and heading east. Feeling sorry for my cuzins on 'da Ilan and hopeful for those folk in the south hankerin' for water.







Here is a short video out the kitchen window, you can see that darn digital thermometer on the window. Absolutely useless at night.

By 10:45pm, there was a solid inch of snow up the road from the Kitsap Court house, here are a couple of pictures. Still no wind to speak of.

Western Washington Severe Weather December 2008 Day2 9:38pm

Every picture tells a story:

And, as of 9:38pm, it's still snowing here in South Kitsap and we have a trace accumulation here where I am, fairly protected by embankments and trees. MSN says it's still 30 degrees, and is predicting rain for tomorrow.

Western Washington Severe Weather December 2008 Day2 7:00pm

The snow has stopped falling here on the hill in South Kitsap. MSN sidebar still reports the temperature as 30 degrees. KIRO's radar shows Kitsap county from Tracyton south to Sunnslope, east to Manette and west nearly to Belfair holding on to a bubble of no precipitation at all, frozen or not. While all around glares blue with snow from Sunset Beach north to the straights, east to Harper and west to at least Camp Union. This station's forecast calls for overnight lows of 31 degrees.

Western Washington Severe Weather December 2008 Day2 5:00pm

Sadly, the snow stopped falling at about 4:20pm. My friend across town lives in a zone that simply never gets snow, though she can drive 200 yards down the road and actually see the snow line crossing the road. They live in a very odd, you have to see it to believe it, micro-climate out there near Colvos passage. She is always showing up in town on rainy or chilly days in sandals and a Tshirt, proclaiming "It's sunny and warm at my house!".





The latest radar image shows the snowline holding, at what looks to be about 1/2 mile away. As of this moment, 5:22pm, it is snowing lightly with no apparent wind. Amazingly, the MSN Sidebar reports the temperature has dropped a whopping 6 degrees since the last blog post. Noting that the sun went down during that time.

It's 30 degrees and snowing at the moment in South Kitsap County.

Western Washington Severe Weather December 2008 Day2 3:30pm

I woke during the night, hoping to catch snow falling outside the window. No luck. As of 9:30pm last night, the winds and rains were light. Catching the news this morning, I should have had a full tuna tin of rain. Apparently 3+ inches fell somewhere in Kitsap county, but it didn't fall here. It is possible that the configuration of banks and trees around the yard are blocking the rainfall into my tuna tin rain gauge.



As of 3:47pm, the window thermometer is reporting 41 degrees and the MSN sidebar says it's 37 degrees. The news this morning predicted that the morning temperatures would be the warmest all day, as they would decline throughout the day in a reversal of the norms. That doesn't seem to have happened however, as 37 was the temperature this morning at 8:00am.




The above radar image shows the snow is all around me, and about to start falling any minute.

AND IT'S RIGHT!!! IT'S JUST STARTED SNOWING IN KITSAP COUNTY!
I'm near the court house, just up the hill from the sound!

Western Washington Severe Weather December 2008 5:00pm

KOMO TV is reporting an unusually high tide (+1.5ft) today is combining with equally unusual high winds to make traversing the local floating bridge a tricking and sometimes scary task.

As I was leaving my house at 11:55am for those errands, the window thermometer read 40 degrees, and the rain had increased to a steady downpour. I also placed an empty tuna tin in a relatively clear space on the patio table to track the rainfall.

As I made my way through Bremerton, a stop at the bank at 12:23pm, the wind was more sustained and the rain was now mixed with freezing rain.

Back in Kitsap county around 3pm, the wind had picked up considerably and I almost lost my hat! Keys still in hand, I nearly knocked myself out trying to clamp the hat back on my head. (remind me to take some keys off that ring!) The store (Fred Meyers) was busier than usual, even for a Friday. Making my way back to the house on Highway 16, the tops of the trees were now bending seriously with the wind coming in from what seemed the east, and holding the small compact Honda on the road was a little difficult a few times. I noticed a fair sized fir branch had fallen, but no other damage and the power was still on! YEAH!

While I was putting the groceries away, my father called from Tacoma to make sure I was prepared. The wind is not bad in Tacoma, according to him. He was surprised to hear it was blowing on my side (the Narrows bridge separates the Tacoma from the Kitsap area), and we were both surprised that the power flickered while we were talking. 3 or 4 flickers, then steady electricity. Whew!

At 4:30pm, a friend from Chicago called. When I told him about the coming storm, he exclaimed "That's why my trip to Seattle was cancelled!" He flys a lot for work, and had been scheduled to come in Saturday morning. I let him know to stay by the phone, because I had heard from a guy at the store that the snow had been pushed back to Saturday from tonight. While we were talking, the power flickered again, for a longer moment this time. I thought I was a goner! It came back on however.

At 5pm, a friend on the other side of town called, sounding a little frantic. "Are you OK?" Yes, I said. I'm fine, what's wrong? She explained that the entire town of Port Orchard seemed out of power. She had just come back from cutting a Christmas tree, and had planned on hitting the grocery on the way home. Her first choice was out of power, and then the street and traffic lights went out. She headed across town, hoping to leave the 'no power zone' behind, but never did find a single store open, so was sure I too was out of power. (and without a generator and knows I refuse to burn wood). It seemed to me the wind had died down a lot, and thought I should be OK. She of course offered to let me come and stay over should that change. I'll be making that a last resort thought, she has 2 bed ridden sickies over there! Checking the tuna can rain gauge, and only about an 1/8 inch seems to have fallen, it sure does seem like a lot more. I guess it must be the wind making it seem just that much more miserable.

It's 5:30pm now, and Steve Poole has just reassured us all that the storm is still coming. The mid-day snow has changed to midnight rain-snow mix, and in fact the snow is appearing now on radar at the northwestern edge of the Olympic mountains. Freezing rain is appearing on this side of the mountain shadow, and a solid band of rain covers the rest of western Washington from border to border, shore to Cascade mountains. Steve predicts the snow should hit me around 6am.

Breaking news while I'm watching:

Wind temps around the area:

Destruction Island: 86mph

Forks: 69mph

Hoquiam: 58mph

Alki Beach: 52mph

Seattle 45mph

Tacoma 45mph (Dad?)

Friday Harbor 47mph