Where are You, Winter?

If you see winter around, could you please remind it about us in the Pacific Northwest?

After a very dry summer in Washington state last year, I was looking forward to fall and winter even more than usual. Things started out in a promising way with gorgeous fall foliage and a decent amount of rain in October. Yeah, the temperatures were a bit warm with few of the crisp fall evenings and mornings, but they weren't too alarming.

As fall progressed and turned toward winter, the situation became more disconcerting. The rain continued, which was nice because of how dry the summer had been, but the warm temperatures refused to budge. This turned out to be a devastating problem in Washington when a December storm dumped heavy rainfall in the mountains. In most years, the precipitation would have fallen as snow at the higher elevations, added to the snowpack, and gradually run off in the coming year. When so much of it fell as rain, it produced destructive flooding along rivers with headwaters in the mountains.

At the same time people began to recover from the flooding, a second major problem asserted itself. With the warmer-than-usual temperatures, the state snowpack fell well below average, leading to concerns about drought and fire in 2026. When we finally received some colder temperatures last week, they came with clear skies and no snow. The rain returned this week, but the temperatures spiked again and are predicted to reach the low 60s for the first week of February.

With El Niño predicted to return in 2026, the problems brought on by our missing winter will likely compound. The weather pattern tends to bring drought and record heat to the Pacific Northwest, and if it does so again this year after winter's vanishing act, the summer could be quite rough.

So if you see winter, I'd appreciate it if you'd tell it the Pacific Northwest would love to see it soon.