NOUS46 KPQR 050353 PNSPQR PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR 8 PM PST WED FEB 4 2004 ...2003 PORTLAND YEAR IN REVIEW... FOR THE YEAR OF 2003...PORTLAND EXPERIENCED MUCH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND NEAR NORMAL PRECIPITATION. IN FACT...THE AVERAGE ANNUAL TEMPERATURE RANKED 2003 AS THE 3RD WARMEST YEAR ON RECORD SINCE RECORD TAKING BEGAN AT THE PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT IN 1941. THIS ABNORMALLY WARM WEATHER REALLY CANNOT BE BLAMED ON AN EL NINO/LA NINA PHENOMENA AS WEAK LA NINA CONDITIONS EARLY IN THE CALENDAR YEAR TRANSITIONED TO NEUTRAL CONDITIONS DURING THE SPRING AND REMAINED AS SUCH FOR THE REST OF 2003. ...NOTABLE WEATHER EVENTS... JANUARY AND FEBRUARY WERE ABNORMALLY PLEASANT WINTER MONTHS CHARACTERIZED BY PREDOMINANT OFFSHORE FLOW. HOWEVER...JAN 29 THROUGH JAN 31 BROUGHT EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINS TO THE AREA WITH 3 TO 6 INCHES OF RAIN WIDELY REPORTED OVER THE AREA DURING THIS 3 DAY STRETCH. SOME LOCALIZED FLOODING WAS REPORTED...HOWEVER DUE TO THE DRY WEATHER IN THE PRECEDING MONTHS...RIVER LEVELS AND MOUNTAIN SNOW PACK WERE QUITE LOW FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR AND PREVENTED MORE DAMAGING FLOODING. RAINFALL RETURNED IN EARNEST TO THE PORTLAND AREA IN MARCH AND APRIL. NOT ONLY WERE HEAVY RAINFALL EVENTS COMMON DURING THESE MONTHS...BUT THE NUMBER OF RAINFALL DAYS WAS INCREDIBLY HIGH. WITH 27 DAYS OF RAINFALL IN MARCH AND 24 DAYS IN APRIL...PORTLAND SET RECORDS BOTH MONTHS FOR THE TOTAL NUMBER OF DAYS IN A MONTH WITH MEASURABLE RAINFALL. SEVERE WEATHER ALSO MADE A RETURN TO THE PORTLAND AREA IN APRIL WITH SEVERAL SPECTACULAR LIGHTNING DISPLAYS AND REPORTS OF FUNNEL CLOUDS IN BEAVERTON AND TIGARD AT THE END OF THE MONTH. THE RAINS STOPPED IN MAY WITH ONE LAST FUNNEL CLOUD SIGHTING ON MAY 17TH...AND THUS BEGAN THE LONG HOT SUMMER. VERY WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS DOMINATED JUNE...JULY...AND AUGUST WITH WILDFIRES BECOMING THE PRIMARY CONCERN THROUGHOUT THE FORESTS OF NORTHWEST OREGON. FIRES SCORCHED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF ACRES IN OREGON WITH THE LARGEST FIRE IN THE SISTERS AREA WHICH BEGAN IN MID AUGUST AND THE CLOSEST TO THE PORTLAND AREA BEING A FIRE NEAR CASCADE LOCKS ON SEPTEMBER 2ND AND 3RD WHICH BURNED 470 ACRES...BUT CAUSED LITTLE PROPERTY DAMAGE AND NO INJURIES. THE WARM TEMPERATURES FINALLY BROKE IN OCTOBER AND THE RAINS FOLLOWED BY THE END OF THE MONTH. BY NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER... NOT ONLY DID RAINS AFFECT THE AREA...BUT LOW ELEVATION SNOWS RETURNED TO THE PORTLAND AREA AFTER SEVERAL WINTERS ABSENCE. AND THIS WAS JUST A PREVIEW OF THINGS TO COME IN 2004... ...RECORDS SET IN 2003... .HIGH TEMPERATURES... .LOW TEMPERATURES... .PRECIPITATION... JANUARY 4TH - 59 MAY 18TH - 38 JANUARY 29TH - 0.86 JANUARY 26TH - 62 MAY 19TH - 40 JUNE 4TH - 91 NOVEMBER 1ST - 26 JUNE 5TH - 96 JUNE 6TH - 98 JUNE 28TH - 96 JULY 29TH - 100 SEPTEMBER 3RD - 94 SEPTEMBER 27TH - 95 NOVEMBER 18TH - 61 OCTOBER 20TH - 77 OCTOBER 21ST - 81 OCTOBER 28TH - 72 ===================================================================== ...PRELIMINARY CLIMATE INFORMATION FOR PORTLAND AIRPORT 2003... ...TEMPERATURE DATA AVG AVG AVG DEPARTURE TEMPERATURE MONTH HIGH LOW MEAN FROM NORMAL HIGHEST/LOWEST REMARKS JAN 50.7 38.8 44.7 +4.8 62 27 2ND WARMEST FEB 51.6 37.0 44.3 +1.2 60 29 MAR 55.8 42.1 49.0 +1.8 72 32 APR 58.2 43.4 50.8 -0.4 69 36 MAY 66.5 48.1 57.3 +0.2 87 38 JUN 77.3 54.8 66.1 +3.4 98 49 JUL 84.7 58.5 71.6 +3.5 100 52 3RD WARMEST AUG 81.7 58.4 70.0 +1.6 94 53 SEP 78.4 55.1 66.7 +3.1 95 48 OCT 66.0 50.4 58.2 +3.9 81 32 5TH WARMEST NOV 51.5 38.9 45.2 -0.6 61 26 DEC 47.2 37.8 42.5 +2.3 54 27 ANNUAL 64.1 46.9* 55.5** +2.0 100 26 *ANNUAL AVG LOW TEMPERATURE OF 46.9 WAS 2ND WARMEST SINCE 1941 **ANNUAL AVG MEAN TEMPERATURE OF 55.5 WAS 3RD WARMEST SINCE 1941 WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE...100 ON JUL 29TH COLDEST LOW TEMPERATURE...26 ON NOV 1ST LAST SPRING FROST DAY...MAR 2ND FIRST FALL FROST DAY...OCT 31ST ...RAINFALL DATA TOTAL NORMAL DEPARTURE REMARKS MONTH PRECIP PRECIP FROM NORMAL JAN 7.64 5.07 +2.57 FEB 2.37 4.18 -1.81 MAR 5.75 3.71 +2.04 APR 4.37 2.64 +1.73 5TH WETTEST MAY 1.49 2.38 -0.89 JUN 0.31 1.59 -1.28 5TH DRIEST JUL T 0.72 -0.72 2ND DRIEST AUG 0.19 0.93 -0.74 SEP 0.85 1.65 -0.80 OCT 3.02 2.88 +0.14 NOV 4.09 5.61 -1.52 DEC 7.45 5.71 +1.74 ANNUAL 37.53 37.07 +0.46 WATER YEAR 2002-2003 33.49 -3.58 ...WIND DATA STRONGEST WIND GUST...47 MPH FROM THE EAST ON DEC 4TH FOR MORE CLIMATE INFORMATION...VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/PORTLAND/CLIMATE (ALL LOWERCASE) $$