NOUS46 KPQR 172148 PNSPQR PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR 145 PM PST TUE JAN 17 2006 ...2005 ASTORIA YEAR IN REVIEW... FOR THE YEAR OF 2005...ASTORIA EXPERIENCED SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION. ALTHOUGH THE LONG TERM RECORD WILL SHOW A NEAR NORMAL YEAR...2005 WAS CHARACTERIZED BY LONG STRETCHES OF PERSISTENT WEATHER REGIMES. WEAK EL NINO CONDITIONS ACROSS THE TROPICAL PACIFIC WANED EARLY IN 2005 AND WAS REPLACED BY NEUTRAL CONDITIONS. NEAR NORMAL TROPICAL PACIFIC SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURES PERSISTED LATE INTO THE YEAR BEFORE SLIGHTLY COOLER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES BEGAN TO APPEAR. ...NOTABLE WEATHER EVENTS... PRECIPITATION REMAINED AT A PREMIUM THROUGH FEBRUARY AS ABNORMALLY DRY CONDITIONS PERSISTED FROM THE AUTUMN SEASON. THROUGH THE END OF FEBRUARY...THE WATER YEAR PRECIPITATION TOTAL WAS THE 7TH DRIEST RECORDED IN ASTORIA...AND WAS LESS THAN THREE-QUARTERS THE TOTAL THAT SHOULD BE EXPECTED UP TO THAT POINT. PLANS FOR RESTRICTED WATER USAGE AND THE IMPENDING FIRE SEASON WERE CONSTRUCTED EARLY IN THE SPRING...BUT THEN THE SPRING RAIN ARRIVED. THE COMBINED TOTAL PRECIPITATION FOR APRIL AND MAY OF 13.78 INCHES RANKED AS THE 2ND HIGHEST TOTAL FOR THOSE TWO MONTHS COMBINED...AND ALL BUT WASHED AWAY MUCH OF THE CONCERN OVER THE SUMMER WATER SUPPLY AND A DANGEROUS FIRE SEASON. WITH THE RAINS IN MARCH CAME STRONG WIND ALONG THE COAST. TWO SEPARATE WIND EVENTS OCCURRED TOWARDS THE END OF MARCH AS WIND GUSTS TO 70 MPH WERE RECORDED AT CANNON BEACH...AND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH WERE COMMON ACROSS THE AREA. THE WIND DOWNED SEVERAL LARGER TREE BRANCHES WHICH CAUSED NUMEROUS POWER OUTAGES ALONG THE COAST. IN ADDITION...A DAILY MARCH PRECIPITATION RECORD WAS SET ON MARCH 26TH. PERHAPS THE MOST OUTSTANDING EVENT OF 2005 FOR THE ASTORIA AREA OCCURRED ON MAY 26TH. ON THIS DAY...THE TEMPERATURE REACHED A BLISTERING 91 DEGREES. NOT ONLY WAS THIS THE WARMEST DAY EVER RECORDED IN THE MONTH OF MAY...BUT IT WAS ALSO THE EARLIEST DAY IN THE YEAR THAT 90 DEGREES HAS BEEN EXPERIENCED IN ASTORIA. INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH...THIS ENDED UP BEING THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE FOR THE YEAR IN ASTORIA. AFTER A VERY QUIET FALL SEASON...THE RAINS OF WINTER ARRIVED IN THE END OF NOVEMBER. AFTER A VERY COLD DRY PERIOD IN THE BEGINNING OF DECEMBER...VERY WET AND WARM CONDITIONS TOOK HOLD OF THE AREA BY THE END OF THE YEAR. THIS WARM AND WET WEATHER PATTERN WOULD PERSIST INTO 2006 CREATING WIDESPREAD FLOODING ACROSS THE AREA. ...RECORDS SET IN 2005... .HIGH TEMPERATURES... .LOW TEMPERATURES... .PRECIPITATION... JANUARY 19TH - 66 FEBRUARY 19TH - 27 JANUARY 17TH - 2.11 FEBRUARY 23RD - 68 SEPTEMBER 23RD - 36 MARCH 20TH - 1.23 MARCH 12TH - 67 MARCH 26TH - 2.61* APRIL 22ND - 75 APRIL 15TH - 1.92 MAY 25TH - 81 APRIL 17TH - 0.86 MAY 26TH - 91** MAY 9TH - 1.24 JUNE 19TH - 74 MAY 10TH - 0.80 AUGUST 25TH - 85 JULY 5TH - 0.42 DECEMBER 20TH - 57 OCTOBER 2ND - 0.87 DECEMBER 23RD - 61 OCTOBER 31ST - 2.98 DECEMBER 23RD - 2.53 DECEMBER 31ST - 2.31 * 2.61 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION IS THE MOST FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH ** 91 DEGREES IS THE WARMEST TEMPERATURE IN THE MONTH OF MAY AND EARLIEST 90 DEGREE TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED IN THE CALENDAR YEAR =================================================================== ...PRELIMINARY CLIMATE INFORMATION FOR ASTORIA AIRPORT 2005... ...TEMPERATURE DATA... AVG AVG AVG DEPARTURE TEMPERATURE MONTH HIGH LOW MEAN FROM NORMAL HIGHEST/LOWEST REMARKS JAN 50.6 38.7 44.7 +2.3 66 27 FEB 54.2 35.1 44.7 +0.5 68 27 MAR 56.6 40.0 48.3 +2.3 68 31 5TH WARMEST APR 56.1 43.5 49.8 +1.3 75 36 MAY 63.2 49.6 56.4 +3.7 91 43 2ND WARMEST JUN 65.0 51.6 58.3 +1.6 74 43 JUL 69.7 54.4 62.0 +1.9 83 49 7TH WARMEST AUG 69.4 55.1 62.3 +1.5 85 50 SEP 65.8 46.2 56.0 -2.5 72 36 2ND COLDEST OCT 59.9 46.5 53.2 +0.6 72 35 NOV 52.5 37.8 45.2 -1.4 62 30 DEC 49.2 37.8 43.5 +0.7 62 23 ANNUAL 59.4 44.7 52.0 +1.0 91 23 WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE... 91 ON MAY 26TH COLDEST LOW TEMPERATURE... 23 ON DEC 16TH LAST SPRING FROST DAY... MAR 18TH FIRST FALL FROST DAY... NOV 15TH ...RAINFALL DATA... TOTAL NORMAL DEPARTURE MONTH PRECIP PRECIP FROM NORMAL REMARKS JAN 5.98 9.62 -3.84 FEB 3.30 7.87 -4.57 3RD DRIEST MAR 7.66 7.37 +0.29 APR 8.32 4.93 +3.39 4TH WETTEST MAY 5.46 3.28 +2.18 3RD WETTEST JUN 1.67 2.57 -0.90 JUL 2.26 1.16 +1.10 AUG 0.25 1.21 -0.96 SEP 1.22 2.61 -1.39 OCT 8.90 5.61 +3.29 NOV 10.53 10.50 +0.03 DEC 14.36 10.40 +3.96 ANNUAL 69.71 67.13 +2.58 WATER YEAR 2004-2005 58.29 -8.84 ...WIND DATA... STRONGEST WIND GUST...58 MPH FROM THE SOUTH ON MARCH 20TH FOR MORE CLIMATE INFORMATION...VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/CLIMATE/INDEX.PHP?WFO=PQR $$