Cannon Beach, Oregon - Weather & Climate: April 2012

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Source:http://www.cannon-beach.net/cbweather.html

BLOG REFLECTION #1 -

A COMPARISON OF CANNON BEACH, OREGON AND SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

Source: http://www.weatherzone.com.au/climate/station.jsp

WEATHER FOR SYDNEY

Mean Daily Temperatures Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Daily Maximum Farenheit 78.4 78.3 76.5 72.3 66.7 62.4 61.2 63.9 67.8 71.6 74.5 77.2

Daily Minimum Farenheit 65.5 65.7 63.5 58.5 52.7 48.6 46.4 48.0 51.8 56.3 59.9 63.5

Mean Monthly Rainfall Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

In Inches 4.1 4.6 5.2 5.0 4.8 5.0 3.9 3.2 2.7 3.0 3.3 3.1

Number of Raindays 12.1 12.3 13.3 12.0 12.0 11.4 10.3 9.9 10.3 11.5 11.4 11.5

SOURCE: Australian Bureau of Meteorology

(IN CONTRAST - SEE BELOW CANNON BEACH WEATHER CHARTS)

On Average:

February is the warmest month.

July is the coolest month.

March is the wettest month.

July is the driest month.

For Cannon Beach, Oregon:

On Average:

August is the average warmest month.
The highest recorded temperature was 105°F in 1961.
December is the average coolest month.
The lowest recorded temperature was 5°F in 1972.
The maximum average precipitation occurs in November

Source: http://www.weather.com

BLOG REFLECTION #1 - A COMPARISON OF CANNON BEACH, OREGON & SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

I chose to compare and contrast Cannon Beach with Sydney, Australia. Both cities are located on the coast; however, Cannon Beach is located on the west coast of the North American continent and Sydney is located on the east coast of the Australian continent. Cannon Beach is in the Northern Hemisphere whereas Sydney is in the Southern Hemisphere. As a result of the hemispheric difference, the seasons are reversed; for instance, the meteorological winter in Cannon Beach is December to February in contrast to Sydney’s meteorological winter of June to August.

Both cities experience moderate temperatures and abundant rainfall due to their common coastal locations. In addition, topographical similarities include mountain ranges located inland; that is, Cannon Beach has the Coastal Range located inland to the east of the city and Sydney has the Blue Mountains located inland to the west of the city.

There is a contrast in air masses between Cannon Beach and Sydney. Cannon Beach is mainly effected by Maritime Polar air masses, followed by Continental Polar (winter) and Maritime Tropical (summer); whereas Sydney is mainly effected by Maritime Tropical air masses (both from the North Tasman Sea and from the Coral Sea/Western Pacific Ocean), followed by Modified Polar Maritime, Southern Maritime and Continental Tropical.

The latitude and longitude of Cannon Beach is 45.89 Degrees North, 123.97 Degrees West. The latitude and longitude of Sydney is -33.87 Degrees South, 151.21 Degrees East. So, Sydney is closer to the equatorial circle and the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone). Although the ITCZ usually affects only within 3 to 10 degrees latitude north/south of the equator, the ITCZ does migrate and by having a closer location be more likely to affect Sydney than Cannon Beach.

El Nino and La Nina both have affects on Cannon Beach and Sydney because both locations are on Pacific Ocean coastlines where the ocean water either becomes warmer or cooler as a result of this phenomenon.

Sources: http://www.theweatherprediction.com
               http://www.weather.com
               http://www.meteorology.com
               http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au
               http://www.sydney.com/au/weather.htm
               http://meteor.aihw.gov.au/content/index.phtml/itemId/430445
               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intertropical_Convergence_Zone
               http://www.weatherchannel.com.au/severe-weather/elnino-and-lanina.aspx

Thursday, April 12, 2012

MORE INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT CANNON BEACH:

1964 ALASKA TSUNAMI CREATES NEW TRADITION

47th Annual Cannon Beach Sandcastle Day in Cannon Beach

Sandcastle Day began in 1964 when a tsunami washed out the bridge into Cannon Beach and residents were relatively isolated until a new bridge could be built. That spring, families from the community gathered for a Sandcastle contest to entertain their children and attract visitors willing to brave the difficult access. Every year since then the event has attracted more visitors and more community involvement to become one of the largest Sandcastle contests on the west coast. June 18, 2011 from 8:00 am – 12:00 pm. This is the one day of the year you can park on the beach!
Source: http://visittheoregoncoast.com/2011/05/31/wade-right-in/

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Source:http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/synoptic/airmass.htm

Source:http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/national_forecast/natfcst.php

Source:http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/images/pqr/ecola.jpg

CURRENT WEATHER MAPS FOR CANNON BEACH

Source:http://www.weather.com/maps/maptype/currentweatherusnational/uscurrentweather_large.html?clip=undefined&region=undefined&collection=localwxforecast&presname=undefined

OCCLUDED FRONT

An occluded front forms when a cold front overtakes a slower-moving warm front. The occluded front is more complicated than the others because two fronts interact. In the left diagram, colder air is wedging under warm air at the cold front. Warm air is gliding up and over another cold air mass at the warm front. The result of what is happening in the left diagram is seen in the right diagram. The warm air squeezed out and lifted above the ground. Steady rains falls at an occluded front.

Source:http://kidlat.pagasa.dost.gov.ph/genmet/fronts/classification_of_fronts.html

CANNON BEACH - BLOG #2

Cannon Beach experiences abundant rainfall and moderate temperatures all year. Continental Polar air masses have slight influence in winter and Maritime Tropical air masses may extend north in summer, but by far the major influence on the local weather and climate in Cannon Beach are the Maritime Polar air masses. Commonly the air masses affecting Cannon Beach start forming far to the west in Asia and Siberia as Continental Polar air masses – cold, dry and stable.

As these cold and dry air parcels move east over the comparatively warmer ocean, the air parcels change into cool, moist, unstable air masses and are renamed as Maritime Polar. The Maritime Polar air masses proceed to move across the Pacific Ocean picking up warmth and moisture along the way.

Cannon Beach is affected by mid-latitude cyclones with warm-type occluded fronts, which means the air behind the advancing cold front is warmer than the cold air parcel it is overtaking. To the immediate east of Cannon Beach is a line of mountains known as the Coast Range (see map below). The combination of moist air masses moving off the ocean onto the coast plus the warm-type occluded fronts, and the orographic lifting due to the mountain range topography creates an area of the country with one of the heaviest annual rainfalls.

In summer the ocean is cooler than the continents and the Pacific high is located off the western U.S. coastline, both combining to keep the local temperature moderate and helping to reduce the high amount of rainfall characteristic of winter conditions.

Source:
Textbook, The Atmosphere, An Introduction to Meteorology, 12th Edition, Lutgens &
                       Tarbuck, Pearson Education, Inc. 2013.
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/narratives/OREGON.htm
http://www.atmos.illinois.edu/~snodgrss/Midlatitude_cyclone.html
http://www.eoearth.org/article/MoistMid-latitudeClimateswithMildWinters-CClimateType?topic=49664
http://teachers.oregon.k12.wi.us/mahr/assignments/airmases_fronts_storms.pdf

Cannon Beach - Some Interesting Info & History

Location of the Cannon Beach, Oregon, study area relative to major offshore tectonic plates and plate boundaries

Major offshore tectonic plates and plate boundaries.
Contour lines in red and blue are simulated coseismic deformation from a Cascadia earthquake.
Source:http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/FIELDOFFICES/George/cannonbeach.htm

Photographs showing the impact of the 1964 Alaska tsunami at Cannon Beach, Oregon

Photographs showing the impact of the 1964 Alaska tsunami at Cannon Beach (courtesy of the Cannon Beach Historical Society). (A) Oblique aerial photograph of the lower Elk Creek valley (now Ecola Creek) that flows through downtown Cannon Beach. Decking from the old Elk Creek bridge was torn from its abutments and transported 300 m upstream. A foundation in the lower part of the photo marks the original postition of a house that was carried 400 m upstream and deposited between the bridge sections. (B) View to the northwest across Elk Creek showing bridge pilings and piers, all that remain after the tsunami destroyed the Elk Creek bridge in 1964. Bell Harbor Motel can be seen in the distance across the creek. (C) The Bell Harbor Motel suffered considerable damage from flooding during the tsunami, including broken windows, water damage and destruction caused by drift logs. The roof of a different building was left in the front yard of the Motel after being carried several hundred yards by the waves. (D) View to the southeast looking across Elk Creek at the bridge remains and house transported hundreds of meter inland by the tsunami. Figure is from Witter (2008).
Source:http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/FIELDOFFICES/George/cannonbeach.htm

Topography Plays Role in Cannon Beach Weather

Cannon Beach is approximately 25 miles southwest of Astoria (shown on map) and is located
directly on the Pacific Ocean coastline, west of the Coastal Range mountains (shown on map).

Source:http://www.lescaves.co.uk/grapevine/article/a_trip_to_sokol_blosser_in_oregon/

Marine - Cool Winter
Source: http://www.eoearth.org

The average temperature of all months is less than 22°C (72°F). Only one to three months have an average temperature greater than 10°C (50°F). The average temperature of coldest month is below 18°C (64°F) but above -3°C (27°F). Precipitation is distributed equally throughout year.

Locations: Coastal Oregon, Washington, west coast of Canada and southern west coast of Alaska, central and northwest Europe, southern Chile, southern coast of South Africa, southeast Australia and New Zealand.

Controlling Weather Factors (both Cfb and Cfc): Mid-latitude cyclones influence weather for most of the year. Warm ocean currents keep these climates mild in winter and cool in the summer.

Climate Characteristics (both Cfb and Cfc): These climates have mild winters and cool summers with low annual temperature range. Frontal activity produces heavy cloud cover and high humidity during fall, winter, and spring. Long periods of rain and drizzle from frequent occurrence of mid-latitude cyclones. Frost can sometimes occur during the winter season.

Example:

Figure 2. Cfb - Limoges, France 46° N , Elevation: 284 m (932 ft). (Image Copyright: Michael Pidwirny).

Figure 2. Cfb - Limoges, France 46° N , Elevation: 284 m (932 ft). (Image Copyright: Michael Pidwirny).

Differences between the properties of air flowing from different regions.
Source: http://www.islandnet.com

Maritime polar (mP): Cool and moist conditions characterize Maritime polar air masses. They usually bring cloudy, damp weather. Maritime polar air masses form over the northern Pacific and the northern Atlantic Oceans. These generally influence the Pacific Northwest and the Northeast, respectively. Maritime polar air masses can form any time of the year and are usually not as cold as continental polar air masses in winter because of the moderating influence of the sea surface beneath them.

North American Air Mass Source Regions

Source: http://www.islandnet.com

Source:http://www.islandnet.com
Below are direct quotes from the website:
Often, the conflict between air masses is so intense that great cyclonic weather systems develop along the frontal boundary to lash the surface beneath with high winds, rapidly changing temperatures and precipitation of all varieties. The differences among air masses was likely first recognized when humans realized that major changes in weather had recognizable, repeatable patterns: e.g., cold, dry conditions come from the north; hot and dry or hot and humid weather from the south. With the advent of regular weather observations across large regions of the continents and weather/climate records from locations around the globe, meteorologists began to see repeatable patterns that showed large bodies of air could be distinguished by their temperature and humidity levels. Air masses acquire their characteristic temperature and moisture (or absolute humidity) signature from the source regions over which they are born. Mid-latitude oceans can be source regions under certain conditions because their surfaces have very uniform characteristics. From the characteristic properties picked up in their breeding ground, air masses are designated as hot or cold, wet or dry.
Wet air masses are consider to be air masses forming over the oceans, and dry air masses, those forming over the continents. Equatorial air masses are all considered to be wet because much of the land area under the equatorial zone is covered in tropical rainforests that can add as much moisture to the air as the equatorial oceans. All arctic (or antarctic in the Southern Hemisphere) are considered dry because there is little evaporation into them from the frigid polar oceans and their temperatures are so low that even at saturation, the absolute humidity is very low.

Polar Maritime
(mP)

Very cool because of the high latitude but not cold, due to moderating influence of the sea and the warm ocean currents at these latitudes.

Moderately moist because of the cool temperature, but not as dry as polar continental air because of evaporation from the water surface.

COLD FRONT BRINGS RAIN

LOCAL STATION FOX 12 WEATHER FORECAST (An Active Wednesday, April 4, 2012) A cool trough has set up over the Pacific Northwest and will stay put for a few days. This will bring some scattered showers to the area but also sun-breaks. A few rumbles of thunder are not out of the question this afternoon. Some thunderstorms may drop hail as well. Thursday will look similar to Wednesday as the trough lingers and slowly moves eastward. We will see a few more showers Friday morning before a nice dry, sunny stretch of weather begins for Easter weekend! That’s the challenge in the forecast today…will we see our first stretch of nice weather here starting this weekend? Maybe not…more on that in a moment. For the short-term, today was a classic nice spring day: easterly wind through the Gorge, light south wind developing up the Valley, more sun than clouds, and an approaching wet cold front. Funny that it seems so warm yet only up to just a few notches above the 60 degree average for April 2nd. Of course that’s because we’ve only seen 3 other days in the past month into the 60s. Forget the 60s for awhile because the cold front that brings rain tonight is also associated with a large and cold upper level trough that’s going to sit over the West Coast tomorrow through Friday. One significant difference with this trough compared to the past few weeks is that we don’t have all that much rain coming and it’ll be mainly in the form of showers. Wednesday, Thursday, and maybe Friday afternoons will feature the classic showers, sunbreaks, hail, and maybe scattered thunderstorms pattern. The strong April sun heats the earths surface each day and the air bubbles up quickly into the colder airmass above. We should see some of those towering cumulonimbus clouds at least Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Source: http://www.kptv.com/weather

WEATHER FORECAST FOR CANNON BEACH, OREGON

Thursday

4/5/2012

Hi: 48°

Partly sunny. Scattered showers. Isolated afternoon thunderstorms...some which may produce small hail. Highs 45 to 50. West wind 5 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation 50 percent. Rainfall amounts around a tenth of an inch.

Lo: 37°

Partly cloudy. Scattered showers. Isolated thunderstorms in the evening. Lows around 35. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light after midnight. Chance of precipitation 40 percent. Rainfall amounts less than a tenth of an inch.