Climatological Report (Annual)
Issued by NWS Portland, OR
Issued by NWS Portland, OR
078 CXUS56 KPQR 011951 CLAAST ANNUAL CLIMATE REPORT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR 1151 AM PST FRI JAN 1 2021 ...ASTORIA 2020 WEATHER IN REVIEW... ================================================================= 2020 KEY RECORDS HEADLINES... *** MANZANITA TORNADO (21 JAN) *** 10TH DRIEST APRIL *** 4TH WARMEST SEPTEMBER *** HEAVY RAINS 19-21 DECEMBER 2020 MONTHLY WEATHER RECAPS... JANUARY...2020 STARTED ON A MILD AND WET NOTE. IT RAINED ON EVERY DAY OF THE MONTH. THE ONLY OTHER TIME IT RAINED ON EVERY DAY OF JANUARY WAS JANUARY 1964. RAIN FELL HEAVILY AT TIMES, WITH 1.00 INCH OR MORE ON 6 DAYS, THE MOST IN JANUARY SINCE 2007. THE HEAVIEST RAINS WERE ON THE 6TH, WHEN 2.50 TO 3.50 INCHES OF RAIN FELL ACROSS THE AREA. IT WAS RATHER COOL FROM 13TH INTO 14TH, WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE 30S. THERE WAS ALSO LIGHT SNOW AROUND THE ASTORIA AREA, WITH MOST AREAS GETTING 0.5 TO 1.0 INCH OF SNOW ON THE 14TH. ROUGH WEATHER AGAIN ON THE 21ST, WITH SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS. ONE STORM PRODUCED A WATERSPOUT OFF THE COAST, WHICH BECAME A TORNADO AS IT MOVED ONSHORE JUST NORTH OF MANZANITA. OVERALL, TEMPERATURES ENDED NEAR NORMAL, BUT IT WAS THE 15TH WETTEST JANUARY (SINCE 1851). FEBRUARY...RATHER STRONG FRONT PUSHED ACROSS THE AREAS ON 1ST, WITH RAIN AND SOUTH WINDS GUSTS UP TO 55 MPH. IN ALL, IT WAS RELATIVELY NORMAL FEBRUARY FOR ASTORIA, BEING A BIT WET. HIGH PRESSURE FROM THE 18TH TO 21ST BROUGHT DRY AND MILD WEATHER, WITH HIGHS WELL INTO THE 50S. MARCH...OVERALL, IT WAS ONE OF THE COOLEST MARCH IN SOMETIME, THE COOLEST SINCE 1985. IT TURNED MILDER A BIT AROUND MID-MONTH, WITH HIGHS BACK INTO THE MIDDLE 50S. BUT, IT WAS STILL SOMEWHAT CHILLY AT NIGHT, WITH LOWS IN THE LOWER 30S. CHILLIEST WAS ON THE 17TH, WITH AN OVERNIGHT LOWS IN THE UPPER 20S. MILDER WEATHER WITH MORE CLOUDS, AND RAIN, RETURNED ON THE 22ND, AND LASTED THROUGH 31ST. APRIL...STARTED WET AND NORMAL, THEN TURNED MOSTLY DRY AND MILD ON 6TH, LASTING THROUGH THE 17TH. DURING THIS TIME, TEMPERATURES WARMED INTO THE 50S AND 60S, WITH WARMEST DAY BEING THE 16TH WITH A HIGH OF 70 DEG. RAIN RETURNED ON THE 21ST, WITH RAIN TIMES THROUGH END OF THE MONTH. APRIL 2020 ENDED WITH ONLY 37% OF ITS NORMAL RAINFALL, MAKING IT THE 10TH DRIEST APRIL ON RECORD (SINCE 1851). MAY...NEAR NORMAL RAINFALL WITH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES. IT RAINED ON 20 DAYS IN MAY 2020, THE MOST IN MAY SINCE SINCE MAY 2010. BUT, MOST OF THE DAILY RAINFALL WERE LESS THAN A 0.20 INCH. HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE INLAND PACIFIC NORTHWEST BROUGHT WARM EAST WINDS TO THE COAST ON THE 7TH TO THE 9TH, WITH TEMPERATURES REACHING WELL THE 70S, WITH WARMEST DAY BEING THE 8TH WITH 82 DEG. AFTERWARDS, IT WAS BACK TO TYPICAL SPRING WEATHER WITH OCCASIONAL RAIN. ANOTHER BRIEF WARM-UP OCCURED ON THE 27TH AND 28TH, WITH HIGHS IN THE 70S. JUNE...SPEAKING OF TRANSITION MONTHS, JUNE WAS JUST THAT, WITH MOSTLY MILD WEATHER, BUT RAIN AT TIMES. THOUGH THE DAILY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES WERE MOSTLY IN THE 60S, IT DID WARM INTO THE 70S AT TIMES BETWEEN THE 18TH AND 23RD. JULY...THIS WAS A UNEVENTFUL JULY, WITH MILD TEMPERATURES. TOTAL RAINFALL WAS ABOUT HALF OF NORMAL, WITH 0.47 INCH. AUGUST...LIKE JULY, AUGUST WAS RATHER UNEVENTFUL. DAILY HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE MOSTLY IN THE UPPER 60S TO LOWER 70S. THE EXCEPTION WAS THE 15TH AND 16TH, WITH HIGHS WARMING INTO THE 80S. TOTAL RAINFALL WAS ABOUT HALF OF NORMAL. SEPTEMBER...THE MONTH STARTED WARM AND DRY, WITH DAILY HIGHS IN THE 70S AND 80S. STRONG HIGH PRESSURE INLAND BROUGHT DRY GUSTY EAST WINDS TO THE REGION ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND. BUT, THESE WINDS CONTRIBUTED TO LARGE WILDFIRES IN THE CASCADES, AND EVEN SOME WILDFIRES IN THE COAST RANGE. THOUGH ASTORIA WAS NOT DIRECTLY AFFECTED BY WILDFIRES, THE SMOKE THAT CAME FROM THESE FIRES HUNG IN THE SKIES FOR DAYS, MAKING FOR POOR AIR QUALITY AT TIMES, AS WELL AS COOLER TEMPERATURES. SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS ROLLED NORTHWARD ACROSS NORTHWEST OREGON ON THE 17TH INTO THE 18TH. MOST AREAS RECEIVED 0.50 TO 1 INCH OF RAIN, THOUGH A FEW SPOTS IN THE COAST RANGE GOT 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN. AFTERWARDS, WEATHER PATTERN CHANGED, WITH MORE ONSHORE FLOW. THIS ALLOWED SMOKE TO BE SHUNTED BACK TO THE EAST. ANOTHER STRONG FRONT ARRIVED ON THE 23RD, BRINGING 1 TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN TO MUCH OF THE COASTAL REGION. SEPTEMBER 2020 MEAN TEMPERATURE OF 62.3 DEG MAKES SEPT 2020 AS THE 4TH WARMEST SEPTEMBER ON RECORD (SINCE 1851). OCTOBER...AFTER A MILD AND DRY START, THE TRANSITION FROM LATE SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER TO AUTUMN BEGAN IN EARNEST BY THE 9TH. A SERIES OF FRONTS ARRIVED, WITH RAIN ON NEARLY EVERY DAY FROM 9TH TO 23RD. STRONGEST FRONT WAS ON THE 10TH INTO THE 11TH, WITH 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN ALONG WITH SOUTH WINDS GUSTING UP TO 50 MPH. NOVEMBER...NOVEMBER 2020 WAS ABOUT AS CLOSE TO NORMAL AS WOULD EXPECT FOR A NOVEMBER. THE STRONGEST FRONT ARRIVED ON THE 13TH INTO THE 14TH, BRINGING 2 TO 4 INCHES OF RAIN TO THE ASTORIA REGION, ALONG WITH SOUTH WINDS GUSTING 45 TO 60 MPH. THESE WINDS CAUSED SOME TREE DAMAGE AND SPOTTY POWER OUTAGES. DECEMBER...DECEMBER STARTED ON A DRY NOTE. BUT, THEN THE RAIN RETURNED, WITH RAIN EVERY DAY FROM THE 5TH THROUGH 22ND. AN ATMOSPHERIC RIVER ARRIVED LATER ON THE 19TH AND 20TH, BRINGING HEAVY RAIN. DURING THAT TIME, MANY AREAS IN AND AROUND ASTORIA RECEIVED 2.50 TO 3.50 INCHES OF RAIN. BUT, AREAS IN THE COAST RANGE REPORTED 4 TO 6 INCHES OF RAIN. MANY OF THE SMALLER STREAMS RAN FULL WITH MINOR FLOODING IN SPOTS. SEVERAL OF THE LARGER COASTAL RIVERS HAD MINOR FLOODING, MAINLY ALONG THE GRAYS AND WILSON RIVERS. MILD AND WET CONDITIONS CONTINUE THROUGH END OF DECEMBER. ============================================================= NEW RECORDS SET IN 2020 (PREVIOUS RECORD IN PARENTHESES) + INDICATES MOST RECENT OF MULTIPLE OCCURRENCES JANUARY... 3RD NEW. DAILY WARM HIGH TEMP 61 ( 59 /1984 ) 23RD NEW. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 51 ( 50 /1992 ) 31ST TIED. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 52 ( 52 /1995 ) *** TIES 1964 WITH MOST RAINY DAYS IN JAN (31 DAYS). MAY... 8TH TIED. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 53 ( 53 /1989+) 8TH NEW. DAILY WARM HIGH TEMP 82 ( 75 /2015+) 9TH NEW. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 53 ( 52 /2018 ) AUGUST... 13TH NEW. DAILY COLD LOW TEMP 44 ( 45 /1955+) SEPTEMBER... 15TH TIED. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 60 ( 60 /1917 ) 16TH NEW. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 60 ( 58 /1995+) *** 4TH WARMEST SEPTEMBER (SINCE 1850) OCTOBER... 22ND TIED. DAILY COLD LOW TEMP 34 ( 34 /1961+) NOVEMBER... 4TH NEW. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 57 ( 55 /2006 ) 8TH NEW. DAILY COLD LOW TEMP 28 ( 29 /1977 ) 9TH NEW. DAILY COLD LOW TEMP 27 ( 29 /1978 ) DECEMBER... 5TH NEW. DAILY WARM HIGH TEMP 61 ( 59 /1908 ) ============================================================== 2020 ASTORIA MONTHLY TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION RANKINGS THIS SHOWS WHERE A MONTH/YEAR RANKS IN SALEM PERIOD OF RECORD (1850 TO 2020). RANKINGS ONLY APPLY TO ALL OF THE SAME MONTH, IN OTHER WORDS, WHERE JAN 2020 COMPARES TO ALL OTHER JANUARYS. RANKINGS 1 TO 171...WHERE 1 IS THE RECORD WARMEST OR WETTEST, AND 171 IS THE RECORD DRIEST OR COLDEST. (NOTE: FOR MAX T AND MIN T, RANKINGS 1 TO 134) JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC 2020 AVG T 16 99 133 89 27 75 103 68 4 91 107 35 44 PRECIP 15 92 132 152 68 86 111 117 75 106 93 127 116 MAX T 30 76 109 45 27 82 100 43 18 86 70 19 36 MIN T 7 92 118 104 23 57 76 83 3 77 107 47 46 =============================================================== 2020 ASTORIA AIRPORT TEMPERATURE DATA + INDICATES MOST RECENT OF MULTIPLE OCCURRENCES |--- AVERAGES ----| MEAN T DEPART| EXTREME TEMPS/DATE MONTH |HIGHS LOWS MEAN| FROM NORMAL | HIGHEST LOWEST -------------------------------------------------------------- JAN 50.2 41.2 45.7 +1.9 DEG 61 / 3RD 31 /17TH+ FEB 49.5 35.6 42.6 -1.8 DEG 57 /20TH 27 /21ST MAR 50.3 35.8 43.1 -3.3 DEG 57 /20TH 29 /17TH+ APR 57.2 39.9 48.5 -0.2 DEG 70 /16TH 30 /13TH MAY 62.7 47.7 55.2 +2.2 DEG 82 / 8TH 37 / 7TH JUN 64.4 50.5 57.5 +0.5 DEG 76 /23RD 41 / 1ST JUL 67.1 53.0 60.0 -0.3 DEG 83 /26TH 47 /13TH AUG 70.0 53.1 61.5 +0.6 DEG 86 /15TH 44 /13TH SEP 70.1 54.5 62.3 +3.8 DEG 87 / 9TH 49 / 6TH+ OCT 60.2 45.3 52.8 +0.2 DEG 73 / 6TH 33 /26TH+ NOV 53.5 38.6 46.1 -0.7 DEG 64 / 1ST 27 / 9TH DEC 51.0 38.6 44.8 +2.1 DEG 61 / 5TH 29 /12TH 2020 58.8 44.5 51.7 +0.4 DEG 87 /AUG 9 27 /NOV 9+ NORMAL 58.6 43.9 51.3 DAYS WITH TEMPERATURES IN 2020 WHERE... |------ MAXIMUM TEMP --------||------ MINIMUM TEMP ---| <=32 60+ 70+ 80+ 90+ 100+ <=20 <=32 50+ 60+ -------------------------------------------------------------- JAN 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 0 FEB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 MAR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 0 0 APR 0 7 1 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 MAY 0 20 5 1 0 0 0 0 11 0 JUN 0 28 4 0 0 0 0 0 18 0 JUL 0 31 5 1 0 0 0 0 25 0 AUG 0 31 13 2 0 0 0 0 27 0 SEP 0 29 12 6 0 0 0 0 28 4 OCT 0 18 2 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 NOV 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0 DEC 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 2020 0 170 42 10 0 0 0 32 125 4 NORMAL <1 160 33 4 0 0 1 28 102 2 FIRST/LAST OCCURRENCES OF... IN 2020 NORMAL LAST 32 DEG OR COLDER IN SPRING 13 APR ( 7 APR) FIRST 70+ DEG OF THE YEAR 16 APR (12 APR) FIRST 80+ DEG OF THE YEAR 8 MAY (13 JUN) FIRST 90+ DEG OF THE YEAR NONE ( 3 JUL) LAST 90+ DEG OF THE YEAR NONE (14 JUL) LAST 80+ DEG OF THE YEAR 29 SEP (11 SEP) LAST 70+ DEG OF THE YEAR 6 OCT (15 OCT) FIRST 32 DEG OR COLDER IN FALL 8 NOV ( 6 NOV) ============================================================== 2020 ASTORIA AIRPORT RAINFALL DATA... TOTAL DEPARTURE DAYS WITH AT LEAST... GREATEST IN MONTH RAIN FM NORMAL 0.01 0.10 0.50 1.00 24HRS & DATE -------------------------------------------------------------- JAN 18.14 +7.94 31 30 13 6 2.81 JAN 5-6 FEB 6.90 -0.29 18 11 6 2 2.67 FEB 4-5 MAR 5.04 -2.41 19 15 2 0 0.75 MAR 28-29 APR 1.97 -3.23 15 6 1 0 0.71 APR 24-25 MAY 3.55 +0.23 20 14 1 0 0.87 MAY 2-3 JUN 2.38 -0.17 17 10 0 0 0.68 JUN 8-9 JUL 0.47 -0.56 11 2 0 0 0.14 JUL 1 AUG 0.50 -0.66 9 2 0 0 0.24 AUG 20-21 SEP 2.92 -0.78 8 5 2 1 1.69 SEP 23 OCT 4.52 -1.46 12 11 3 1 1.12 OCT 11 NOV 9.96 -1.19 23 19 7 3 1.54 NOV 12-13 DEC 8.19 -1.70 22 18 6 3 X.XX DEC XX 2020 64.54 -2.72 205 143 41 16 2.81 JAN 5-6 NORMAL 67.26 191 128 45 14 ASTORIA WATER YEAR 2019-20 ( 1 OCT 2019 THROUGH 30 SEP 2020) 61.58 INCHES ( 5.68 INCHES BELOW NORMAL) ============================================================ 2020 ASTORIA AIRPORT WIND AND PRESSURE DATA... AVERAGE SPEED (MPH) STRONGEST WIND GUST (MPH) 2020 NORMAL DIRECTION SPEED DATE ------------------------------------------------------------ JAN 11.6 (8.8) WEST 48 MPH 11 JAN FEB 7.4 (8.4) WEST 53 MPH 7 FEB MAR 7.4 (8.3) SOUTH 42 MPH 30 MAR APR 6.9 (8.2) SOUTH 36 MPH 22 APR MAY 7.4 (8.1) SOUTH 34 MPH 12 MAY JUN 7.6 (8.3) SOUTH 39 MPH 9 JUN JUL 7.4 (8.5) NORTHWEST 28 MPH 14 JUL AUG 8.1 (7.7) SOUTHWEST 35 MPH 16 AUG SEP 6.9 (7.0) SOUTH 47 MPH 25 SEP OCT 6.7 (7.1) SOUTH 48 MPH 13 OCT NOV 7.5 (8.3) SOUTH 56 MPH 17 NOV DEC X.X (8.7) SOUTH 52 MPH 21 DEC 2020 7.7 (8.0) SOUTH 56 MPH 17 NOV BAROMETRIC PRESSURE EXTREMES... HIGHEST PRESSURE30.62 INCHES 24 FEB LOWEST PRESSURE 29.22 INCHES 13 NOV ============================================================ ASTORIA AREA CLIMATE PERIOD OF RECORDS... 1850 TO 2020 ASTORIA CLIMATE NORMALS BASED ON... 1981 TO 2010 ============================================================ DATA COMPILED BY ROCKEY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON ONLINE AT: WEATHER.GOV/PORTLAND $$