Not Everybody Gets A Warm Spring; PAC NW Having Winter In May (Almost)

While we in Vermont have had a generally warm spring
with a couple snowy exceptions, the Pacific Northwest has
had a wet, cold, miserable spring. Photo above from KOIN
shows a Portland neighborhood enduring its first
April snowstorm on record back on the 11th of that month

Despite the chill we felt this morning around Vermont, we have had a relatively warm spring.  We've even had a few premature bouts of summer weather so far this month. 

There's actually a chance we might score into the top 10 warmest Mays, depending on how the weather shakes out in the final week of the month. 

Not everybody gets to enjoy such warm weather. The Pacific Northwest, in particular, has had a miserable spring. 

In Seattle, April was a substantial 4.2 degrees cooler than normal and so far May in Seattle is running at 5.5 degrees below normal. They've dealt with extra clouds and rain, too. So far this month they've had 3.18 inches, more than double the amount they should have gotten by this point in the month. 

Portland, Oregon, had the first April snowfall on record on the 11th and 12th of the month.  Since many trees had leafed out by then, there was plenty of damage. The month ended up being 3.1 degrees colder than average.

Portland also had its wettest April on record, with 5.73 inches of precipitation (Normal is 2.89 inches).

Things aren't much better in May for Portland. The month so far is running 3.2 degrees chillier than average and rainfall is running an inch ahead of normal. 

Further east, places like Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs are having a spring with temperatures averaging fairly close to normal. But even there. a late season snowstorm dumped several inches of slush on those cities.  Trees were leafed out there, too, so many branches collapsed onto wires, causing 100,000 people to lose power.

Prospects seem bleak for a warmup in the Pacific Northwest. The long range forecast for the next two weeks calls for cooler and wetter than average conditions in those areas.

By contrast,  the admittedly not completely reliable long range forecasts has Vermont with mostly warmer than average weather with near normal precipitation for the next two weeks. 

The cold weather in the Pacific Northwest shows that even with climate change, you can get spells of chilly, dreary weather. Cold snaps don't become impossible with climate change, they just become somewhat less likely.