NOUS46 KPQR 222058 PNSPQR PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR 100 PM PST SAT JAN 22 2005 ...2004 EUGENE YEAR IN REVIEW... FOR THE YEAR OF 2004...EUGENE EXPERIENCED ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND MUCH BELOW NORMAL PRECIPITATION. THIS ABNORMALLY WARM AND DRY WEATHER OCCURRED AS EL NINO CONDITIONS BEGAN TO DEVELOP IN THE CENTRAL PACIFIC OCEAN DURING THE LATE SUMMER MONTHS. WHILE EL NINO WINTERS ARE CHARACTERIZED BY WARMER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND NORMAL TO SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS...THIS CANNOT EXPLAIN THE WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS THAT PREVAILED OVER THE SPRING MONTHS. ...NOTABLE WEATHER EVENTS... JANUARY 2004 BEGAN AS THE POLAR OPPOSITE...BOTH FIGURATIVELY AND LITERALLY...FROM WHAT THE REST OF THE YEAR IN WEATHER WOULD BRING. MOST RESIDENTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY WILL SOON NOT FORGET THE ICE AND SNOW STORM FROM JAN 5TH THROUGH JAN 7TH. ONLY LIGHT AMOUNTS OF SNOW WERE SEEN THROUGHOUT THE AREA...HOWEVER ACCUMULATIONS OF ICE UP TO ONE INCH BROUGHT THE AREA TO A NEAR STANDSTILL. THE EUGENE AREA WAS THE FIRST TO WARM ABOVE 32 DEGREES AND RECEIVED A REPRIEVE FROM THE FRIGID WEATHER. UNUSUALLY WARM DRY WEATHER SET INTO THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY DURING THE SPRING MONTHS OF 2004...AND REMAINED FOR THE MAJORITY OF THE YEAR. IN FACT...WITH THE EXCEPTION OF SEPTEMBER AND NOVEMBER...EVERY MONTH IN EUGENE WAS WARMER THAN NORMAL. IN ADDITION...WITH THE EXCEPTION OF OCTOBER...EVERY MONTH IN 2004 WAS DRIER THAN NORMAL IN EUGENE. MARCH 2004 ENDED UP RANKING AS THE 4TH DRIEST MARCH ON RECORD FOR THE EUGENE AIRPORT. ON APRIL 2ND...A RARE MOUNTAIN WAVE DESCENDED IN THE CASCADES OF LANE COUNTY IN THE MCKENZIE RIVER VALLEY NEAR BELKNAP SPRINGS. NUMEROUS LARGE TREES FELL ACROSS THE MCKENZIE WITH WINDS ESTIMATED NEAR 80 MPH. DOZENS OF HOMES LOST POWER WITH THIS WINDSTORM AND THE MCKENZIE RIVER WAS CLOSED TO BOATERS FOR OVER A WEEK. AFTER SOME RELIEF IN THE FORM OF COOLER TEMPERATURE AND RAINFALL DURING THE EARLY FALL MONTHS...THE WEATHER TURNED BACK TO DRY AND WARM IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER. A MEAGER 6.32 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION FELL DURING THESE TWO MONTHS MAKING 2004 THE 7TH DRIEST NOVEMBER/DECEMBER ON RECORD. THIS 6.32 INCHES ALSO REPRESENTS LESS THAN 40 PERCENT NORMAL RAINFALL FOR THESE TWO MONTHS COMBINED. WEAK TO MODERATE EL NINO CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO THE EARLY SPRING MONTHS...SO EXPECT A CONTINUATION OF WARM...AND POSSIBLY DRY CONDITIONS INTO THE EARLY PART OF 2005. ...RECORDS SET IN 2004... .HIGH TEMPERATURES... .LOW TEMPERATURES... .PRECIPITATION... MARCH 26TH - 76 NONE OCTOBER 17TH - 1.05 APRIL 30TH - 81 JULY 23RD - 103 JULY 24TH - 100 ===================================================================== ...PRELIMINARY CLIMATE INFORMATION FOR EUGENE AIRPORT 2004... ...TEMPERATURE DATA... AVG AVG AVG DEPARTURE TEMPERATURE MONTH HIGH LOW MEAN FROM NORMAL HIGHEST/LOWEST REMARKS JAN 46.1 36.4 41.2 +1.4 56 20 FEB 50.9 36.2 43.6 +0.8 58 26 MAR 60.3 38.2 49.2 +3.0 76 32 APR 64.5 38.7 51.6 +1.8 81 31 MAY 67.2 45.6 56.4 +1.6 79 35 JUN 75.0 49.0 62.0 +1.8 91 39 JUL 86.0 52.5 69.2 +3.0 103 44 AUG 84.8 53.6 69.2 +2.8 97 46 SEP 72.0 48.1 60.1 -1.6 84 38 OCT 63.5 43.9 53.7 +1.1 77 34 NOV 50.7 37.4 44.1 -0.6 57 27 DEC 48.0 36.8 42.4 +2.9 61 29 ANNUAL 64.1 43.0 53.6 +1.4 103 20 WARMEST HIGH TEMPERATURE...103 ON JUL 23RD COLDEST LOW TEMPERATURE...20 ON JAN 6TH LAST SPRING FROST DAY...APR 2ND FIRST FALL FROST DAY...NOV 5TH ...RAINFALL DATA... TOTAL NORMAL DEPARTURE REMARKS MONTH PRECIP PRECIP FROM NORMAL JAN 7.07 7.65 -0.58 FEB 4.11 6.35 -2.24 MAR 1.80 5.80 -4.00 4TH DRIEST APR 2.69 3.66 -0.97 MAY 1.73 2.66 -0.93 JUN 1.36 1.53 -0.17 JUL 0.08 0.64 -0.56 AUG 0.80 0.99 -0.19 SEP 2.07 1.54 +0.53 OCT 3.47 3.35 +0.12 NOV 2.21 8.44 -6.23 10TH DRIEST DEC 4.11 8.29 -4.18 ANNUAL 31.50 50.90 -19.40 WATER YEAR 2003-2004 43.52 -7.38 ...WIND DATA... STRONGEST WIND GUST...41 MPH FROM THE SOUTHWEST ON OCT 19TH FOR MORE CLIMATE INFORMATION...VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/CLIMATE/INDEX.PHP?WFO=PQR $$