The start of March was the coldest in a generation, with snowfall in the region improving significantly

If you feel a little cold, it means you’re not imagining it.

And if you’re worried about the snowpack, you can rest assured, there have been big gains since the start of the year.

First, temperature. For many of you, this is the coldest beginning of March in memory. Consider the average high temperatures for the first five days of March in Seattle (see below). We are experiencing the coldest early March since the late 1980s.

There is another interesting thing in this plot: The average high temperature in early March has actually been HOT since the 1980s (trend line shown in brown line).

If you want to really feel the chill, check out the minimum temperature this morning (March 6). Mid 20s south of Puget Sound and single digits in northeast Washington. Some areas in central Oregon dropped below ZERO. These are longer days and the sun is much stronger.

Then there’s the matter of snow. Well, good news…..there has been a significant recovery and more is on the way.

Current snowfall rates are normal for Washington State (shown below), showing some watersheds (like the important Yakima) at 80% or higher. The west side of the Cascades is currently at about two-thirds normal levels. And the Olympics, which was down about 25%, doubled to 50%.

Oregon’s snowpack is in great shape (see below), with many watersheds 100% above normal.

To show you how much things have improved, here’s a look at the situation in Washington on January 4. It’s MUCH worse, with much of the state below 50% of its normal snowfall. Big improvement.

So with all this cold and snowy news, what do you think is on the front page of the Seattle Times this morning?

Lack of snow and DRUG. And there was no mention of El Nino, the main cause of the lack of snow earlier in the season. I’ll leave it to you to speculate why they did this. But it’s not good.