Kitsap Weather 2012: Cloudy, cold and wet

**UPDATE 6:20 PM (1/3/2013): Some of you have reported periods of snow, mostly close to the Hood Canal. Temperatures are a couple degrees above freezing with dew points in the 20s, but this should not extend past midnight and accumulations, if any, will be light.**

I know what many of you are thinking: “When do we not have a cloudy, cold and wet year?” But wait until you see the numbers. 2012 was FAR from normal.

I’ve been busy the past couple days compiling information for a “year in review” blog post and while I do have some interesting data, it is hard to compare it to past years. Why? All we really have to go by (as far as official data is concerned) is the numbers spit out by the Bremerton National Airport (KPWT). Luckily the weather station only shut down on us twice this year, and only for a few days at a time. Other than that, weather records were preserved.

Earlier today I spoke to a meteorologist from the Seattle National Weather Service who said, “Despite insufficient [weather] records on the Kitsap Peninsula, most areas in Western Washington were between their 5th to 10th wettest years on record, and I don’t imagine Kitsap would have been the exception.”

With that being said, let’s get started with what little I have 😉 Meteorologists certainly had a fun year. We have seen:

• Ice/snowstorms (January 2012; I was in South Africa from May 2010-May 2012, so I don’t have any Kitsap data for that!)
• Thunderstorms (July 2012)
• A LONG dry spell (mid July 2012-mid October 2012)
• An Indian Summer (August-mid October 2012)
• A classic fall windstorm (October 2012)
• An incredible stretch of rain (mid October 2012-December 2012)
• A Snowpocalypse (December 2012)
• And some Christmas snow (December 2012)

Even if I was only in the country for half the year, it kept us on our toes! So how did we do in terms of average temperatures and precipitation? I’ll let the numbers speak for their cold and wet selves:

Needless to say, it was a cold and wet year! Especially from March-July. Wow, a minus 8 departure? I had to check and re-check my numbers, but they proved consistent.

Amazingly, we didn’t set any record low temperatures! We did set two record high temperatures, however. 89 degrees on August 4th and 96 degrees on August 5th.

On the Kitsap Peninsula we average just over 56” of rain a year, but there are still many locations that average more. Take this precipitation map for example:

How about sunshine, snowfall, and cloud cover? Not too surprisingly, it has been a pretty cloudy year. I don’t have averages, but I do have the 2012 statistics:

• Number of days with measurable rain: 149
• Number of sunny/partly sunny days: 130
• Number of overcast days (>70% cloud cover): 235
• Number of days with measurable snow: 13
• Number of days 80 degrees or hotter: 20
• Number of days at 85 or hotter: 8
• Number of days at 90 or hotter: 5

It has certainly been an great weather year. For more interesting statistics and cool photos, check out Scott Sistek’s 2012 weather in review.

Peeking ahead at the long range forecast, it appears we could enter a pretty cold string of weather in the next couple weeks. Obviously nothing is set in stone, but things look to be getting interesting again real soon.

In the short term, expect a rain through the weekend and into early next week before tapering off to showers. Highs will stay near normal in the low to mid 40s.

Have a great evening everyone, and let’s make it another great year!

Matthew Leach

Forecasting Kitsap

Questions? Comments? E-mail me at: forecastingkitsap@live.com