NOUS46 KPQR 090220 CCA PNSPQR PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR 620 PM PST SUN FEB 8 2004 ...2003 SALEM YEAR IN REVIEW... FOR THE YEAR OF 2003...SALEM EXPERIENCED MUCH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND NEAR NORMAL PRECIPITATION. 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 BEGAN TO RETURN TO THE SALEM AREA IN MARCH...AND THEN MORE SO IN APRIL. NOT ONLY WERE HEAVY RAINFALL EVENTS COMMON DURING THESE MONTHS...BUT THE NUMBER OF RAINFALL DAYS WAS INCREDIBLY HIGH WITH 26 DAYS OF RAINFALL IN MARCH AND 25 DAYS IN APRIL. SEVERE WEATHER ALSO MADE A RETURN TO THE SALEM AREA IN APRIL WITH SEVERAL SPECTACULAR LIGHTNING DISPLAYS AND REPORTS OF LARGE HAIL. ON APRIL 29TH...NICKEL TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL STRIPPED LEAVES AND FRUIT BUDS FROM TREES IN AN ORCHARD IN THE KEIZER AREA. THE RAINS SUBSIDED IN MAY AND JUNE...BUT NOT WITH ONE LAST DAY OF SEVERE WEATHER ON JUNE 22ND. THE ONLY CONFIRMED TORNADO IN NORTHWEST OREGON OCCURRED NEAR INDEPENDENCE IN POLK COUNTY. IT LASTED APPROXIMATELY 5 MINUTES AND CAUSED NO DAMAGE OR INJURIES. ON THE SAME DAY...ANOTHER FUNNEL CLOUD WAS SPOTTED 5 MILES WEST OF THE SALEM AIRPORT...BUT THERE WAS NO INDICATION THAT IT EVER REACHED THE GROUND. 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...THE B&B COMPLEX FIRE...IN THE SISTERS AREA WHICH BEGAN IN MID AUGUST. US ROUTE 20 ACROSS SANTIAM PASS WAS CLOSED FOR A SIGNIFICANT STRETCH OF TIME AFFECTING BOTH LOCAL TRANSPORTATION AND ECONOMIES. RAINS WOULD NOT HELP THE FIREFIGHTING EFFORTS AS A MERE 0.68 INCHES OF RAIN FELL IN THE JUNE THROUGH AUGUST PERIOD. 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 SALEM AREA AS WELL. ON DECEMBER 29TH...5 TO 12 INCHES OF SNOW COVERED THE SALEM AREA...AND THIS WAS JUST THE BEGINNING OF A STORM THAT WOULD LAST INTO 2004. ...RECORDS SET IN 2003... .HIGH TEMPERATURES... .LOW TEMPERATURES... .PRECIPITATION... JUNE 5TH - 96 NONE DECEMBER 13TH - 2.23 JUNE 6TH - 96 JUNE 28TH - 97 JULY 28TH - 99 JULY 29TH - 101 SEPTEMBER 27TH - 98 OCTOBER 20TH - 77 OCTOBER 21ST - 80 OCTOBER 27TH - 74 ===================================================================== ...PRELIMINARY CLIMATE INFORMATION FOR THE SALEM AIRPORT 2003... ...TEMPERATURE DATA AVG AVG AVG DEPARTURE TEMPERATURE MONTH HIGH LOW MEAN FROM NORMAL HIGHEST/LOWEST REMARKS JAN 52.1 37.7 44.9 +4.6 61 24 3RD WARMEST FEB 52.7 34.5 43.6 +0.6 59 26 MAR 56.4 41.6 49.0 +2.5 74 29 APR 57.7 41.3 49.5 -0.5 68 34 MAY 66.5 45.1 55.8 +0.2 85 34 JUN 77.8 50.3 64.1 +2.9 97 43 JUL 86.2 54.2 70.2 +3.4 101 46 5TH WARMEST AUG 82.5 54.8 68.7 +1.7 92 48 SEP 78.6 51.0 64.8 +2.6 98 43 OCT 66.3 47.5 56.9 +4.0 80 29 4TH WARMEST NOV 50.9 36.5 43.7 +1.5 61 22 DEC 47.6 36.1 41.9 +1.7 59 20 ANNUAL 64.6 44.2 54.4 +2.1 101 20 WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE...101 ON JUL 29TH COLDEST LOW TEMPERATURE...20 ON DEC 30TH LAST SPRING FROST DAY...MAR 24TH FIRST FALL FROST DAY...OCT 31ST ...RAINFALL DATA TOTAL NORMAL DEPARTURE REMARKS MONTH PRECIP PRECIP FROM NORMAL JAN 7.38 5.84 +1.54 FEB 2.78 5.09 -2.31 MAR 4.79 4.17 +0.62 APR 5.58 2.76 +2.82 5TH WETTEST MAY 1.74 2.13 -0.39 JUN 0.62 1.45 -0.83 JUL T 0.57 -0.57 AUG 0.06 0.68 -0.62 SEP 0.94 1.43 -0.49 OCT 2.48 3.03 -0.55 NOV 4.99 6.39 -1.40 DEC 10.44 6.46 +3.98 ANNUAL 41.80 40.00 +1.80 WATER YEAR 2002-2003 39.39 -0.61 ...WIND DATA STRONGEST WIND GUST...44 MPH FROM THE SOUTH ON NOV 16TH FOR MORE CLIMATE INFORMATION...VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/PORTLAND/CLIMATE (ALL LOWERCASE)