Spring time in Bend (2013, how much, move)

[Snownut]

Okay time to put away the Winter Thread and start reporting on the "dreaded cloudy grey cold" spring times I hear Bend is known for.

Bend has had the nicer conditions hands down this March, has it been a typical / average March there?

Will it continue to be nicer in Bend than the MA into April? May? "Junuary" ?

Winter has been relentless here in VA/WV this year (over 30" of snow this month at my WV home)

Bend area locals please post pictures, temperatures and thoughts about what is happening in the Bend area.

Very interested in timing of spring flowers and leaves out on the trees?

[skypros]

We deserve nice weather... It has been winter since October ;(

[delta07]

Originally Posted by Snownut

Okay time to put away the Winter Thread and start reporting on the "dreaded cloudy grey cold" spring times I hear Bend is known for.

Bend has had the nicer conditions hands down this March, has it been a typical / average March there?

Will it continue to be nicer in Bend than the MA into April? May? "Junuary" ?

Winter has been relentless here in VA/WV this year (over 30" of snow this month at my WV home)

Bend area locals please post pictures, temperatures and thoughts about what is happening in the Bend area.

Very interested in timing of spring flowers and leaves out on the trees?

Glad you started this thread. I was just thinking about starting a spring weather one.

I was gone for 8 days in March, which of course, was our sunniest week here according to the weather underground data, ha! I can't complain though, I was enjoying the sunny beaches of Mexico.

My general feel is that this month, once again, seems to be a bit sunnier and nicer than average. I went back and looked at the historical data on weather underground because they have a nice monthly view, with pictures, for easy viewing. I counted up sunny days, partly cloudy days, and then combined cloudy/rainy/snowy days because it was easier. This month, so far, we've had 8 days of sunny skies, 12 partly cloudy, and 11 of the combined cloudy/rainy/snowy. When comparing back only 2010 has a higher number of sunny days, at 12. The other years are 5 (2012) and 2 (2011). I'm sure there's so weather phenomena we can explain this on. I don't know what it is, but this year feels much better than years past, and the data supports that.


2012 was a particularly cloudy/rainy/snowy March. There were 5 days of sun, 5 days of partly cloudy and 21 days of cloudy/rainy/snowy combined. Last year about this time was extremely hard on me and I can see why. I haven't looked yet to our other spring months, but I'm interested now to see the comparison so I will do that.

We really haven't had much of a winter here this year in town, other than some cold temperatures. The mountains are a different story, but usually are. I'm not sure what our snowpack is though. A quick search didn't turn up anything recent. As of January, we were at 82% statewide.

I did see that the farmer's almanac is predicting a cooler spring than normal for the PNW, although Bend is right on the cusp of the PNW and Intermountain regions, according to them. However, it looks like the Intermountain region is also predicted to have a cooler than average spring, so we'll see how things shape up.

As far as blooming goes, I noticed that some crocus are up. My chives are up, but they are always the first to push through. My roses are just starting to form buds. I also noticed some of the trees are starting to bud. We are still a few weeks, I'd say, from leafing out. We've had some decent rain the past few days, so that should help things along.

[Pfhtex]

Sure wish y'all would post some pics to my little picture thread.

[delta07]

I went skiing up at the mountain today. First time up this week. I was surprised at how much the snow has melted. The parking lot was completely dry! It also rained, pretty hard, on us while skiing for about 15 minutes. Skiing in the rain sucks!

[chortle]

Near 70 and sunny today. Been kind of a mixed bag last week, mostly cloudy, some rain.

[kapetrich]

Mid-60's and sunny today too. Rode my bike around in a t-shirt even. This has been the warmest and most spring-like spring I've experienced since my move 3 years ago. That said, I was told that my first two winters/springs here were abnormally cold and wet (which was amazing for skiing) so if anything I've been pretty upset with this spring since that was my 'normal'.

[Dry Side]

I have been mountain biking for the last 5 days on the trails West of Bend. Bike shorts and short sleeve jersey. Trails are in great shape. Kind of doubt I will run into Steve P. on the trails.

[PNW-type-gal]

Good thing we had a lot of snow in the Cascades in December, because the NWS is reporting that the Jan-March 2013 period is the third lowest snow total on record. The actual snow pack is the 10th lowest on record.

As they say, "whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting" and there will be fighting this summer between all the water interests.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Pink is starting to show on all my fruit trees. That means in about 2-3 weeks we will get 10 days of sub-zero weather.