Day 296...

Day 296...

Well that was sure a fun weather day!  We woke up to a surprise dusting.  Models didn't handle the early snow well at all.  The radar looked great all morning and snow filled the air.  Most schools had an early release and that was the right call.  The attention then turned the main event, where the forecast was really from .3 inches up to 7 inches.  The timing on the snow really worked well with the models.  The snow started falling as the afternoon commute got going.  People were listening and most left work early.  Snow started sticking in Clark County and made its way south.  By 5pm, snow was sticking in downtown Portland.  It took almost two more hours before it started here at home.  By 7:30pm, the snow was coming down and everyone was getting excited.  One of the biggest challenges we all faced today was doing this blind.  The Portland radar (WSR-88D) on Dixie Mountain died just after 12pm.  This radar has had more bad luck when needed the most.  We had to rely on the Langley Hill radar located just outside of Ocean Shores, WA.  This would only show us precipitation coming in from the coast and not much else.  The Portland radar finally came back online about 7pm.  We were able to watch the snow come to an end by 10pm. 

Today was a lot of fun for me personally.  I've loved the Facebook LIVE technology since they rolled it out several years ago.  I've used it to do weather updates and showcase some fun stuff happening in my life.  Because today was such a challenge to forecast, I knew I wanted to pass information along as I got it.  As of 11:35pm tonight, I had done 6 Facebook Live sessions, had 3,265 views and over a thousand comments.  Talk about content.  I want to thank everyone who helped me out tonight.  We did some whip around coverage and I even anchored coverage as a friend drove his car around in the snow.  Now lets get some sleep and see what tomorrow holds for all of us.  Goodnight.