Exit Summer, Enter Fall Storms

Steve Pierce weather blog update mug

Fall officially arrives this weekend and mother nature intends to let us all know.  A series of early fall storms will plow through the Pacific Northwest this weekend and into next week. All forecast models are in agreement that the first system will arrive Friday evening with an even stronger system on tap for Sunday. Daytime high temperatures Saturday through Tuesday may struggle to reach 60, which is a solid 15-20 degrees below where we will be today (Thursday). It will certainly feel like fall outside this weekend and into early next week. Each subsequent system will bring increasing rainfall across all of western Oregon and Washington, along with the lowest snowfall levels of the season to the Cascades. Areas above 5,000-6,000 ft will likely see their first snowfall of the season by the beginning of next week. Another system slated for Sunday will bring with it the strongest winds of the season to the coast. Now would be a good time to consider putting away the outdoor summer furniture, as it does not look like we will need it again anytime soon.

Rainfall amounts for the first half of September are already at or above month end averages at most locations in across the Portland / Vancouver metro area. We will certainly be adding more rainfall to the records books over the weekend and into next week.

Here are my forecast high temperatures for Portland / Vancouver over the next few days:

Today – 77 (sunny)
Friday – 69 (evening rain)
Saturday – 64 (showers and cool)
Sunday – 60  (showers and cool)
Monday – 62 (showers and cool)
Tuesday – 59 (showers and cool)

The Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) has just inked two great meetings slated for September and October that will be free and open to all ages of the general public. Mark your calendars now for next Wednesday, September 25th when former Oregon State Climatologist and Meteorologist George Taylor will speak to our chapter in Portland. His complete presentation is detailed on our website. Then we will host our premier meeting of the season. The 21st annual Winter Weather Forecast Conference will be held Saturday, October 26th 2013 beginning at 10am at OMSI in Portland. This annual meeting is a blast! Weather forecasters from across the Pacific Northwest will once again converge on Portland to give their best prognostications for what this upcoming winter will bring weather-wise to Oregon and SW Washington. This meeting is also free and open to all ages of the general public. Please arrive early if you want a seat. This meeting normally attracts a capacity of 300+ attendees. To view complete details on both of these meetings please see: http://www.ametsoc.org/chapters/oregon/

Stay tuned!

Steve Pierce
President, Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS)
Columbian Newspaper Weather Blogger

Don’t forget — you can get my latest weather and climate updates via Facebook. Send me a friend request at http://facebook.com/stevepiercevancouver and I will add you in. Don’t forget to also bookmark this blog at http://blogs.columbian.com/weather. Are you an amateur simply interested in weather? Maybe you are a professional meteorologist? Why not join the single largest chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) in the country with 180 fellow members? The Oregon chapter hosts eight monthly meetings from September through June. All of these meetings are free and open to the public. We are always looking for new members. Dues are just $10 a year! For Oregon AMS meeting details and a membership application, please see http://ametsoc.org/chapters/oregon

 

Steve Pierce

Steve Pierce

Steve Pierce is widely known as Oregon and Washington's "go-to-guy" when it comes to fast, accurate historical meteorological research and forecasts. Steve is currently the President of the Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Steve is also recognized as a regional weather commentator and blogger who can be heard on local radio stations and seen in print media outlets across the Pacific Northwest. His Weather Blog is hosted by the Columbian Newspaper in Vancouver. Check it out! He is a third generation resident of Vancouver, Washington and holds a degree in Communications. Both sets of Steve's grandparents migrated to Vancouver during World War II. One set traveled from Lenox, Iowa to work in the Kaiser Shipyards supporting the war effort. The other set came to Vancouver from Olympia, Washington to work as educators for the rapidly expanding Vancouver School District. When the war was over, both sets of grandparents decided to stay in Vancouver and continue raising their families, as did thousands of other families at the time. Those who are most familiar with Steve can attest to the fact that weather is his true passion. His love for "all things weather" began at the age of 7 when Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980. He was fascinated with which direction the ash plumes were headed. Then came the very powerful windstorm of Friday, November 13, 1981, also referred to as the "Friday the 13th" storm. This was the strongest storm to hit the Portland / Vancouver area since the great Columbus Day Storm of 1962! At age 11, he was asked to publish an extended weather forecast for his elementary school's weekly newsletter. In the 1980's, at age 14, Steve was the youngest of KGW-TV's local "weather watchers" and would phone in his daily Vancouver weather stats to then television meteorologist Jim Little for use on-air. Steve has lived through all of the major Pacific Northwest weather events of the past 30 years, and then some. The most notable events include; the bitterly cold winter of 1978-1979, the record setting snow storms of January 1980, the summer heat wave of August 1981, the windstorms of November 1981 and December 1995, the severe arctic blast of February 1989, the record flood of February 1996, the historic ice storm of January 2004, the Vancouver tornado of January 2008 and the record setting snow storm of Christmas 2008. Not to mention every Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption in between. With access to the most extensive set of historical weather records available to date, Steve has personally designed and integrated a proprietary system that gives him the ability to quickly locate and manipulate weather data as far back as the 1800's. As one local Meteorologist put it, "Steve has fast access to historical weather data that is needed for media, agriculture, business, personal, historical and other climatological needs. He can quickly manipulate the data in many different ways. His forecasts are also quite accurate, especially at longer lead times." Steve also provides local storm assessments, narratives and weather presentations to the general public, as requested. In his spare time, Steve enjoys spending time with his family, the outdoors, vacationing at his family's coastal cabin and just relaxing! By the way, do you like your weather on the "extreme" side? So does Steve! Whether it is collecting damage assessment data & photos after record setting 125 mph winds at the coast in December 2007, being one of the first on the scene after the January 2008 Vancouver tornado, or feeling (literally) the awesome power of 100 mph wind gusts at Oregon's Crown Point in January 2010, Steve has experienced it all! As Steve says, "don't just love weather, live weather!" Check out Steve's personal weather website at: http://www.piercevideo.com/weather.shtml

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