Climatological Report (Annual)
Issued by NWS Portland, OR
Issued by NWS Portland, OR
509 CXUS56 KPQR 011954 CLASLE ANNUAL CLIMATE REPORT ANATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR 1153 AM PST FRI 1 JAN 2021 ...SALEM 2020 WEATHER IN REVIEW... ================================================================= 2020 NOTABLE RECORDS AND WEATHER EVENTS... *** 5TH WARMEST JANUARY *** DAMAGING THUNDERSTORMS IN EARLY MAY *** DRY AND WARM SUMMER *** 13TH WARMEST SEPTEMBER *** SEPTEMBER WILDFIRES, SMOKE AND STRONG THUNDERSTORMS 2020 MONTHLY WEATHER RECAPS... JANUARY...2020 STARTED ON A MILD AND WET NOTE. NORMALLY, SALEM WOULD SEE 11 NIGHTS AT/OR BELOW FREEZING. BUT, ONLY 4 THIS YEAR (14TH TO 17TH). DURING THAT TIME, THERE WAS LIGHT SNOW IN/AND AROUND THE SALEM AREA, WITH AN INCH BEING THE MOST. A STRONG FRONT PUSHED ACROSS REGION ON THE 23RD AND 24TH, WITH 1.00 TO 1.50 INCHES OF RAIN AND GUSTY WINDS. INTERESTINGLY, RAIN FELL ON ALL BUT 2 DAYS, THE MOST SINCE FOR A JANUARY SINCE JAN 2004, AND 2ND MOST FOR ANY JANUARY SINCE JAN 1950. OVERALL, JANUARY 2020 WAS THE 5TH WARMEST JANUARY ON RECORD. FEBRUARY...A STRONG FRONT PUSHED ACROSS REGION TO START THE MONTH, WITH RAIN AND WINDS GUSTING TO 40 MPH. BUT, OVERALL, IT WAS A RATHER BENIGN MONTH, WEATHERWISE. TOTAL RAINFALL WAS LESS THAN HALF OF NORMAL, WITH 1.78 INCHES. MARCH...RATHER TYPICAL MARCH, WITH MIX OF CLOUDS, RAIN, SUNSHINE, AND SHOWERS. BUT, EVEN WITH THAT, THERE WAS A TOUCH OF SNOW WITH ONE OF THE COLD FRONTS ON THE 13TH INTO THE 14TH. BUT, NOT MUCH, WITH MOST AREAS IN AND AROUND SALEM GETTING LESS THAN AN INCH. A FEW SPOTS TO NORTH AND EAST OF SALEM, SUCH AS AROUND KEIZER TOWARDS SILVERTON PICKED UP 3 TO 5 INCHES. AFTERWARDS, DRY AND MILD WEATHER RETURNED. COOLER WITH RAIN AT TIMES RETURNED FOR THE LAST WEEK OF MARCH. APRIL...A MILD AND RATHER DRY APRIL FOR THE MID-WILLAMETTE VALLEY. IT STARTED ON A WET NOTE, BUT DRY AND MILD WEATHER STARTED ON THE 5TH, AND CONTINUED THROUGH THE 17TH. DURING THAT STRETCH, TEMPERATURES WERE IN THE 60S, WITH MID-70S AT TIMES. IT STAYED MILD THROUGH END OF THE MONTH, WITH SOME SHOWERS. OVERALL, ANOTHER MONTH WITH BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL, WITH ONLY ABOUT HALF OF WHAT SHOULD SEE IN APRIL. MAY...LIKE 2019, MAY WAS A MONTH FOR GARDENERS. MAY 2020 STARTED MILD AND SOMEWHAT WET. BY THE 5TH, TEMPERATURES WERE IN 70S, WITH MIDDLE 80S FOR THE MOTHERS DAY WEEKEND. THEN, BACK TO UNSETTLED WEATHER, WITH RAIN AND COOLER TEMPERATURES. ANOTHER WARM SPELL ARRIVED FOR THE 26TH TO 29TH, WITH HIGHS NEAR 90 DEG ON THE 28TH. COLD FRONT SWEPT ACROSS REGION ON 30TH, WITH SHOWERS AND EVEN A FEW THUNDERSTORMS. JUNE...LIKE MAY, JUNE WAS ANOTHER RATHER PLEASANT MONTH, WITH NEAR NORMAL RAINFALL. MOST OF THE RAIN FELL BETWEEN THE 6TH 16TH. DURING THAT TIME, SEVERAL FRONTS PUSHED ACROSS REGION, WITH ALTERNATING RAIN AND SHOWERS. THUNDERSTORMS ON THE 6TH BROUGHT SMALL HAIL IN SPOTS, ALONG WITH A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR SODAVILLE. THUNDERSTORMS ON THE 16TH ALSO PRODUCED A FUNNEL CLOUD NEAR ALBANY. JULY...HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE REGION MAINTAINED WARM DAYS AND MILD NIGHTS, ALONG WITH DRY WEATHER. ONLY A TRACE OF RAIN FELL ON THE 1ST AND AGAIN ON THE 7TH. WARMEST DAY OF JULY WAS THE 26TH, WITH HIGHS OF 99 TO 101 ACROSS SALEM AREA. AUGUST...OVERALL, NOT A LOT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AUGUST AND JULY. AUGUST WAS ALSO ON THE WARM SIDE, WITH MILD NIGHTS. WARMEST DAY WAS ON THE 15TH, WITH TEMPERATURES AROUND 100 DEG. MOST OF THE RAINFALL FOR AUGUST FELL ON THE 6TH. SEPTEMBER...THE MONTH STARTED WARM AND DRY, WITH HIGHS IN 90S. AN ABNORMALLY STRONG UPPER LOW DROPPED SOUTH FROM CANADA INTO ROCKIES ON LABOR DAY WEEKEND, WITH SNOW IN THE ROCKIES. STRONG HIGH PRESSURE FOLLOWED THAT LOW BROUGHT STRONG DRY OFFSHORE FLOW TO THE PACIFIC NW. EAST TO NORTHEAST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH, WITH GUSTS UP TO 35 MPH WERE FELT ACROSS THE CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY ON THE 7TH AND 8TH. WINDS BROKE TREE BRANCHES AND CAUSED SPOTTY POWER OUTAGES. BUT, WITH WINDS WERE MUCH STRONGER OVER THE CASCADES. THAT DOWNED POWERLINES, SPARKING WILDFIRES WITH THE VERY DRY CONDITIONS. THESE FIRES BURNED INTENSELY, WITH LARGE AMOUNTS OF SMOKE LOFTED AND SPREADING OVER MUCH OF THE REGION. AIR QUALITY PLUMMETED, WITH SMOKE COVER SKIES FROM THE 7TH THROUGH THE 18TH. THIS SMOKE KEPT DAY TEMPERATURES DOWN, AND OVERNIGHT LOWS MILD. IT ALSO MADE FOR MANY DAYS OF QUITE UNHEALTHY AIR QUALITY. STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ROLLED NORTHWARD ACROSS THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY AND CASCADES ON THE 17TH INTO THE 18TH. THESE STORMS PRODUCED VERY HEAVY DOWNPOURS AND GUSTY WINDS, ALONG WITH SOME HAIL. MANY SPOTS IN AND AROUND SALEM PICKED UP 1.00 1.25 INCHES OF RAIN WITHIN 30 MINUTES WITH THE HEAVIER STORMS. THIS QUICK RAINFALL TEMPORARILY TURNED STREETS INTO INTO RIVERS OF RUNNING WATER. ONE STORM NEAR SILVERTON DUMPED 1.52 INCHES OF RAIN IN 30 MINUTES, ALONG WITH GUSTY WINDS AND DIME TO NICKEL-SIZED HAILSTONES. THIS CAUSED QUITE A BIT OF DAMAGE TO TREES AND VEGETATION. HAIL ALSO DAMAGED CROPS AROUND THE SCIO AREA AS WELL. AFTERWARDS, WEATHER PATTERN CHANGED, WITH MORE ONSHORE FLOW AND SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. THIS ALLOWED SMOKE TO BE SHUNTED BACK TO THE EAST, WITH IMPROVING AIR QUALITY. A STRONG FRONT ARRIVED ON THE 23RD, BRINGING MORE RAIN. OCTOBER...AFTER A MILD AND DRY START, THE TRANSITION FROM LATE SUMMER-LIKE WEATHER TO AUTUMN BEGAN IN EARNEST BY THE 10TH. A SERIES OF FRONTS ARRIVED, WITH A RAINY STRETCH FROM THE 9TH TO THE 13TH. THEN, IT TURNED MOSTLY DRY THROUGH REST OF THE MONTH, WITH 0.05 INCH OF RAIN FROM THE 14TH THROUGH 31ST. CHILLY AIR SETTLED OVER REGION LATER IN THE MONTH, WITH AUTUMN`S FIRST FREEZE ON 26TH. THE LAST TIME TEMPERATURES DROPPED THIS COLD SO EARLY IN THE SEASON WAS IN 1985, WHEN TEMPERATURES DROPPED TO 25 DEG ON THE 9TH OF OCTOBER. NOVEMBER...NOVEMBER 2020 WAS ABOUT AS CLOSE TO NORMAL AS ONE WOULD EXPECT FOR NOVEMBER. FROM THE 13TH TO 18TH, FRONTS PUSHED ACROSS THE REGION BROUGHT GUSTY SOUTHERLY WINDS, WITH GUSTS 40 TO 45 MPH FROM TIME TO TIME. DECEMBER...DECEMBER STARTED ON A DRY NOTE. BUT, THEN THE RAIN RETURNED, WITH RAIN EVERY DAY FROM THE 5TH THROUGH THE 22ND. AN ATMOSPHERIC RIVER PUSHED OVER THE REGION LATE ON THE 19TH AND 20TH, WITH HEAVY RAIN. DURING THAT TIME, MANY AREAS IN AND AROUND SALEM RECEIVED 1.75 TO 3.00 INCHES OF RAIN. THIS PUSHED MANY SMALL STREAMS OUT OF THEIR BANKS, WITH SOME MINOR FLOODING ALONG A FEW RIVERS, SUCH AS THE SANTIAM AND PUDDING RIVERS IN RURAL MARION COUNTY. WEATHER REMAINED MILD THROUGH THE END OF THE MONTH. ============================================================== NEW RECORDS SET IN 2020 (PREVIOUS RECORD IN PARENTHESES) + INDICATES MOST RECENT OF MULTIPLE OCCURRENCES JANUARY... *** 5TH WARMEST JANUARY ON RECORD (AVG TEMP 45.4 DEG) MAY... 18TH NEW. DAILY PRECIPITATION 0.67 INCH ( 0.64 /2019 ) SEPTEMBER... 3RD TIED. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 61 ( 61 /2013 ) 8TH NEW. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 66 ( 64 /2017 ) 9TH TIED. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 62 ( 62 /2017 ) NOVEMBER... 4TH NEW. DAILY WARM LOW TEMP 58 ( 57 /2012 ) 9TH NEW. DAILY COLD LOW TEMP 24 ( 27 /2018 ) ============================================================== 2020 SALEM MONTHLY TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION RANKINGS THIS SHOWS WHERE A MONTH/YEAR RANKS IN SALEM PERIOD OF RECORD (1892 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 129...WHERE 1 IS THE RECORD WARMEST OR WETTEST, AND 129 IS THE RECORD DRIEST OR COLDEST. JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC 2020 AVG T 5 78 87 32 36 45 34 21 13 59 80 37 19 PRECIP 118 113 88 105 32 45 99 78 65 98 65 62 102 MAX T 16 50 74 28 56 77 54 31 51 47 79 18 24 MIN T 3 103 92 47 18 17 29 34 3 68 78 58 28 =============================================================== 2020 SALEM MCNARY AIRPORT TEMPERATURE DATA (+ BY DATE INDICATES LAST OF SEVERAL OCCURRENCES LISTED) |--- AVERAGES ----| MEAN T DEPART| EXTREME TEMPS & DATE| MONTH |HIGHS LOWS MEAN| FROM NORMAL | HIGHEST LOWEST | -------------------------------------------------------------- JAN 50.1 40.6 45.4 +4.2 DEG 61 /31ST 26 /26TH FEB 51.2 32.5 41.9 -1.2 DEG 61 /27TH 25 / 4TH MAR 54.5 35.1 44.8 -2.6 DEG 65 /20TH 28 /17TH APR 63.6 40.3 52.0 +1.6 DEG 77 /17TH 31 / 3RD MAY 68.6 47.1 57.8 +1.6 DEG 90 /28TH 36 / 4TH JUN 72.7 51.8 62.2 +0.6 DEG 91 /23RD 42 / 1ST JUL 82.8 54.6 68.7 +1.1 DEG 100 /26TH 50 /25TH AUG 84.1 54.2 69.1 +1.5 DEG 100 /15TH 46 /30TH SEP 76.6 53.3 65.0 +2.4 DEG 96 / 3RD 46 /13TH+ OCT 65.0 42.6 53.8 +0.6 DEG 79 / 2ND 27 /26TH NOV 52.0 37.0 44.5 -1.0 DEG 68 / 4TH 24 / 9TH DEC 49.3 35.5 42.4 +2.3 DEG 60 /21ST 24 /29TH 2020 64.2 43.7 54.0 +1.0 DEG 100/AUG 15+ 24/DEC 29+ NORMAL 63.6 42.4 53.0 DAYS WITH TEMPERATURES IN 2020 WHERE... |------ MAXIMUM TEMP --------||------ MINIMUM TEMP ---| <=32 60+ 70+ 80+ 90+ 100+ <=20 <=32 60+ 70+ -------------------------------------------------------------- JAN 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 FEB 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 16 0 0 MAR 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 APR 0 23 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 MAY 0 27 11 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 JUN 0 29 19 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 JUL 0 31 29 18 9 1 0 0 3 0 AUG 0 31 31 23 4 1 0 0 4 0 SEP 0 30 23 9 2 0 0 0 4 0 OCT 0 23 8 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 NOV 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 DEC 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 11 0 0 2020 0 212 128 62 17 2 0 59 11 0 NORMAL 1 197 124 59 15 1 3 50 4 0 FIRST/LAST OCCURRENCES OF... IN 2020 NORMAL LAST 32 DEG OR COLDER IN SPRING 13 APR (19 APR) FIRST 70+ DEG OF THE YEAR 8 APR (31 MAR) FIRST 80+ DEG OF THE YEAR 8 MAY ( 9 MAY) FIRST 90+ DEG OF THE YEAR 28 MAY ( 3 JUN) LAST 90+ DEG OF THE YEAR 3 SEP ( 8 SEP) LAST 80+ DEG OF THE YEAR 29 SEP (30 SEP) LAST 70+ DEG OF THE YEAR 16 OCT (20 OCT) FIRST 32 DEG OR COLDER IN FALL 25 OCT (24 OCT) ============================================================== 2020 SALEM MCNARY 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 7.95 +1.95 28 22 5 0 1.34 JAN 27-28 FEB 1.78 -2.78 12 6 1 0 0.63 FEB 15-16 MAR 2.92 -1.07 12 9 1 0 0.67 MAR 13-14 APR 1.35 -1.46 11 7 0 0 0.29 APR 22 MAY 2.85 +0.63 14 9 1 0 0.68 MAY 17-18 JUN 1.41 -0.14 11 6 0 0 0.36 JUN 8-9 JUL TRACE -0.46 0 0 0 0 TRACE JUL 7 AUG 0.12 -0.33 3 0 0 0 0.09 AUG 6 SEP 1.36 +0.08 5 4 1 0 0.52 SEP 17-18 OCT 1.70 -1.33 7 5 2 0 1.16 OCT 10-11 NOV 5.89 -0.61 20 12 4 1 1.40 NOV 12-13 DEC 6.45 -0.41 21 14 4 1 2.13 DEC 19-20 2020 32.09 -5.89 144 94 18 2 2.13 DEC 19-20 NORMAL 39.67 144 91 25 6 SALEM WATER YEAR 2019-20 (1 OCT 2019 THROUGH 30 SEP 2020) 27.91 INCHES 11.76 INCHES BELOW NORMAL ============================================================ 2020 SALEM MCNARY AIRPORT WIND AND PRESSURE DATA... AVERAGE SPEED (MPH) STRONGEST WIND GUST MONTH 2020 NORMAL DIRECTION SPEED DATE ---------------------------------------------------------- JAN 9.8 (7.1) WEST 43 MPH JAN 3 FEB 6.0 (6.9) SOUTHWEST 38 MPH FEB 1 MAR 6.3 (7.4) SOUTH 34 MPH MAR 30 APR 5.6 (6.9) NORTH 29 MPH APR 16 MAY 5.6 (6.4) SOUTHWEST 34 MPH MAY 2 JUN 6.7 (6.5) NORTHWEST 29 MPH JUN 27 JUL 6.3 (6.5) WEST 26 MPH JUL 30 AUG 6.3 (6.0) NORTH 27 MPH AUG 9 SEP 5.1 (5.5) SOUTH 41 MPH SEP 25 OCT 5.1 (5.7) SOUTH 41 MPH OCT 13 NOV 6.6 (7.1) SOUTH 44 MPH NOV 17 DEC 6.3 (7.1) SOUTH 38 MPH DEC 21 2020 6.3 (6.6) SOUTH 44 MPH NOV 17 BAROMETRIC PRESSURE EXTREMES... HIGHEST PRESSURE30.64 INCHES 24 FEB LOWEST PRESSURE 29.38 INCHES 13 NOV ============================================================ 2020 SALEM WILLAMETTE RIVER DATA (AT DOWNTOWN)... HIGHEST LEVEL 21.6 FT 22 DEC 2020 LOWEST LEVEL 5.3 FT 14 AUG 2020 (FLOOD STAGE IS 28.0 FT) ============================================================ SALEM MCNARY AIRPORT CLIMATE PERIOD OF RECORDS 1892 TO 2020 SALEM MCNARY AIRPORT CLIMATE NORMALS BASED ON 1981 TO 2010 ============================================================ DATA COMPILED BY ROCKEY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON ONLINE AT: WEATHER.GOV/PORTLAND $$