News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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So many folks speak of the autumn months as one of their favorite times of the year, and I’m one of them. Temperatures are moderating from the heat of summer, and there’s a bit of a chill in the morning air as leaves begin to turn those brilliant colors. We’ll return to this subject shortly. First, let’s take a look at the month of September and see what it brought us weather-wise. As you may have predicted, we were down on precipitation. We measured just 0.17 inches of precipitation here at the home weather station, and most of it came on... Full story
The synopsis for August was not very good, a reflection of the drought affecting the Pacific Northwest. Let’s start with temperatures. Our high for the month was 102.3°F on Aug. 13, and our low was 51.7°F just 10 days later. We had three days in August that exceeded 100°F. The mean temperature for the month was 74.3°F, as compared to the overall mean of 71.9°F. That would be an increase of 2.4°F. That has been the trend this summer: hotter than normal and new records set all around the state. As we all know, we didn’t see any noticeabl... Full story
First, let’s do a recap of temperatures and precipitation for July. I recorded four days with a high in excess of 100°F. July 2, 3, 4, and 31 were all above 100°F. The high for the month was on the 3rd at 104.1°F. Our low of the month was on the 26th at 52.3°F. My data shows that just about half the month of July was 90°F or above. The home weather station recorded a mean of 78.1°F which was 5.1° above the all-time mean for the month, at 73.0°F. No records broken for July, as the all-time high was in 1939 at 113°F. Precipitation for July was ze... Full story
June was dry, indeed, and hot, too. Let’s start with a look at the temperatures first. The mean June temperature is 65.5°F, while here at the home weather station we had a mean of 74.9°F, a whopping 9.4°F increase. The all-time high temperature for June was 105°F back in 1938. I recorded two days, June 27 and 28 with highs over 107°F (107.1 and 107.9 respectively). Six new single high-temperature days were recorded at the “official” weather station for Grand Coulee for June, 8, 9 and 10 and 27,... Full story
Though our mean temperature was a bit higher for May, the month was on the normal side. We recorded a high for the month of 89.5°F and a low of 36.5°F (all-time high was 100°F in 1986 and the all-time low was 21°F in 2002). The mean was higher than the all-time mean for May (58.4°F) at 62.5°F or 4.1°F higher. May was above normal, slightly, for precipitation. We recorded 1.3 inches for the month while the mean is 1.1 inches. A little “extra” rain is always welcomed. We are a ways into June already, and a look at what is being “predicted... Full story
Certainly, California has rewritten the definition for “dry.” Yet, here in Washington (Oregon too) we are beginning to create our own heightened definition too. On the state level, Governor Inslee made more drought declarations on April 17. More than one half of the state is now listed in one of three categories, starting with abnormally dry here. The other two listings are moderate and severe drought. The Office of the Washington State Climatologist is now posting weekly state drought upd... Full story
March continued the trend of warmth we’ve been seeing the past few months, with a mean temperature of 46.6°F, 5.5°F above the March mean. It doesn’t stop there; we had a high temperature of 68.8°F on March 27, only five degrees away from the daily high of 74°F set in 1939. The low for the month here at the home weather station was 20.5°F on the March 4. All time low temperature was 0°F in 1955. Precipitation was above the mean, as well. We received 1.02 inches of rain, while the mean for the m... Full story
Goodness, February was like the start of spring. No snow, warm temperatures and not much precipitation. Mean temperatures across the state were above normal, and generally, precipitation was about average. What wasn’t average was our regional snowfall, or lack thereof. Here at the home weather station, we had a high temperature of 58° on Feb. 7. The all-time February high temperature for our area was in 1995 at 61°. Our low for the month came Feb. 23 at 22.9°. In 1950 we had our all-time low... Full story
Having recently read that December 2014 was the hottest December on record, according to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, and that 2014 was the warmest year on record, as well, I guess my data goes along with that information. We recorded a mean temperature for December of 33.6°F (all-time mean is 29.5°F), putting us 4.1°F above the mean temperature. The Washington state climatologist is reporting that mean temperatures are up across the state for December. We recorded a high te... Full story
November brought more rain and a touch of snow, which put us over the mean precipitation in November by nearly a half inch, at 0.49 inches. We ended the month with a total of 1.73 inches as compared to our mean of 1.24 inches. As I write this, we have had a total 11.97 inches of precipitation for the year, compared to our annual average of 10.55 inches. Just a few weeks left in the year and we will likely go over the 12-inch mark. We did experience a short-term hard drought this summer, which... Full story
We received almost double the mean amount of rain for October, with 1.38 inches measured here at the home weather station. The measuring station at the dam showed 1.72 inches for October. The mean is 0.72 inches. I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the wetness either. We were on the higher end of mean temperature too. The mean here at the house was 54.9°F some 3.8°F higher than mean (51.1°F). We had a high temperature of 86.1°F (Oct. 6) and a low of 35.3°F (Oct. 27). No record-breaking measurements for the month. The Washington state climat... Full story
The Grand Coulee Dam Area Rotary Club has started planning for a few community projects. One project is to gather all the individual services club, church and other not-for-profit organizational signs that are individually placed along State Roads 155 and 174 and place them all on one of four large “welcome” boards at four new locations. Those locations will generally be on the north end of State Road 155 near Coulee Dam and the south end near Electric City. Also, on State Road 174 on the eas... Full story
My goodness, August really brought the rain. SO, how much rain you ask? What we received exceeded all of the past six years for August. Our combined past six years for August brought a total of 1.29 inches. Now, let’s compare the totals for August 2014 – my home weather station received 1.55 inches, and the Grand Coulee Dam weather site got 1.76 inches. The mean for August is 0.41 inches, with an all-time 1.75 inches in 1941. Do you see a new record? I certainly did, and the National Wea... Full story
Hot indeed, July was, to quote Yoda. I’ve been looking over the records for the month of July at the “official weather station” here in the Grand Coulee area (Coulee Dam 1 SW [451767]). As expected, there are fluctuations from year to year. Some examples: From 1935-41 July had maximum temperatures over the 100°F mark. The next such run of years for July was 1944-47 and then 1958-62 and so on. Well, you get the picture; it varies. The most recent grouping of years for July with maximum temper...
Reviewing the past five June’s, June 2014 comes in as the driest. Here at the home weather station we only measured 0.59 inches, while the mean for June is 1.04 inches. Here’s how that ranks going back to 2009: 2013- 1.51 inches, 2012- 3.35 inches, 2011- 0.60 inches, 2010- 2.33 inches, and 2009- 0.93 inches. Temperatures were comparable, though, to these past years. We had a high of 88.1°F (June 23) and a low of 43.7°F (June 16). Only once in the past five years did we break into a high tempe... Full story
The mean precipitation for May is 1.10 inches, and this year, like 2013 and 2012, we only received a portion of that. We measured 0.63 inches here at the home weather station (compared to the same in 2013 and just 0.27 inches in 2012). The mean temperature was 60.0°F was 1.6°F higher than mean (all-time mean is 58.4°F). The high for the month was 84.7°F and the low was 38.0°F. The all-time high was 100°F back in 1986, and the all-time low was 21°F in 2002. There has been discussion about El Nino... Full story
I had hoped for warmer weather for Colorama and Mother’s Day weekend; we take what we get, as someone once said. If you recall, last year was very warm with temperatures in the high 80s, low 90s and clear sky. Here are the numbers for April. Our high temperature here at the home weather station was 74.0°F on the last day of the month (all-time high 92.0°F in 1936), a low of 30.7°F (all-time low 20.0°F in 1936) and the mean was 50.3°F (all time mean 50.0°F). Turned out the month was rather... Full story
We ushered in a seasonal change on March 21 with equal day and night times. Now, we are gaining more and more daylight as we head into summer. We are gaining roughly three minutes a day. For the month of April, we will gain an hour and 16 minutes of daylight. Let’s take a look at March and see where the numbers ended. Precipitation was nearly a half inch more than the mean at 1.28 inches, while the mean is 0.88 inches. The record high, set in 2012, was 4.13 inches. We measured 1.4 inches of n... Full story
February left us with a good amount of snow and was our coldest month, too. We measured 8.3 inches of new snow here at the home weather station (compared to a mean snowfall is 2.5 inches and a high of 17.1 inches in 1959) and a low temperature of minus 1.8°F on the 6th of the month (minus 15°F was our lowest in 1950). Our total precipitation was 1.46 inches which, as always this time of year, includes Snow Water Equivalent (SWE). The high temperature for the month was 51.6°F on the 12th (61°F wa... Full story
January kicked off our new year on the warmer and drier side. Here at the home weather station we had a January mean temperature of 31.5°F, while the overall mean is 26.9°F for a difference of 4.6°F. The low for the month was 14.9°F on Jan. 31 (all-time low was -17°F in 1950) and our high was 55.9°F Jan. 13 (all-time high was 61°F in 1981). Our January precipitation was on the low side. We measured only 0.49 inches, just about all of it from 4.9 inches of snowfall (actually, it is called Snow Water Equivalent or SWE). Our mean precip... Full story
For December, here at the home weather station, we only had three days of low temperatures in the single digit area — the 5th, 7th and 8th. The lowest was a 3.5°F on the 8th, while our high temperature came in at 42.8°F on the 1st. Record temperatures for December are an all-time low of minus 16°F in 1968 and the all-time high of 58°F back in 1936. The mean for the month is 29.5°F and this December ours was 26°F, 3.5°F lower. Again, we were on the dry side of precipitation. Only 0.15 inches a... Full story
The joy of working with computer recording software unsurprisingly leads to a bit of frustration. Here at the home weather station we have a gap of eight days lost – the last eight days of November. For November reporting purposes, I’ll be using data from another local recorded weather station. Temperature ranges were as follows: the low for the month was 14°F (Nov. 21) and the high was 56 (Nov. 1). The all-time low for November was -10°F in 1985, while the all-time high was 69°F in 1989.... Full story
The home weather station measured a trifling 0.14 inches of precipitation for October. Looking back at past years shows we’ve had more — 1.15 inches in 2012, 0.54 inches in 2011, 1.23 inches in 2010 and 1.36 inches in 2009. The mean for October is 0.72 inches. We’ve been above the mean three of the last five years. Temperatures were generally on par with a high of 70.7°F occurring on the 6th of the month and a low of 29.1°F on Oct. 30. The all-time mean for October is 51.1°F; all-time high was... Full story
The high temperatures we had up to mid-September, 80s and 90s, have dropped off measurably. As we transitioned into October we’ve had nothing above the high 70s. I think it’s fair to state we are now in autumn weather. My home weather station recorded a high temperature of 95.9°F on Sept. 13 (all-time high was 104°F in 1938) and a low of 39.5° on the September 25 (all-time low of 30°F in 1970). Precipitation was on the light side though above the mean (0.72 inches) with 0.88 inches recorde... Full story
Aug. 25 saw a very strong, fast moving storm system blow through our area. We continue to clean up the mess left behind. Winds of 65 miles per hour and above were noted in many areas. Here at the home weather station, where we are a bit protected, we had a gust of 43 mph and a third of an inch of rain from the system. As I write this column, we just experienced another fast moving storm system. Fortunately, it appears this one wasn’t as strong or severe as the Aug. 25 event. Our temperature rang... Full story
