What Year Was Your Worst-Coldest Winter

By Clem
(1 votes) (report abuse)
I always figure Thanksgiving weekend is the start of winter. The weather is almost always above freezing the day before Thanksgiving and is freezing by Sunday after. For old timers 1950-51 is generally recognized as the worst winter in the NW. December 1996 saw record snowfall with building and barns collapsing thoughout the county. Ellensburg had I think the Moose Hall collapse and Cle Elum had the bowling alley. The snow was so deep in Cle Elum on Jan 1 people could walk up to the roofs without ladders. However in late January 1997 most of the snow was gone. 1956 had record cold in January when Lake Samammish froze over in King County.

I think the worst winter in modern times (after 1956)was the winter of 1968-69. It started out with a lot of snow right after Christmas. It continued to snow until there was about three feet of snow in Ellensburg during January. Also during January there was a record cold outbreak with the temps dropping to -24 at the coldest. For at least three weeks I dont think it got above freezing. I remember 22 degrees felt warm. The snow stuck around until even in early April there were still spots of snow next to buildings in the shade. One of the things I remember is the cold weather simply killed a lot of cars in Eburg. In the spring you could see cars that died with cracked blocks I guess parked on the streets.

The weather will be great today and the rest of the week. The rain has ended.
Re: Coldest year byAlbert November 13, 2008 (1 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
I just moved to the Kittitas valley two years ago. Lived in the Puget Sound area (some over here refer to it as "the dark side") my whole life. I definately believe the winters of the 40's and 50's were much colder and harsher than todays winters. When a youngen, I lived 20 - 30 miles out of Bremerton on what we called our 5 acre stump ranch. Just down the road were two large (half the size of Matoon) ponds. Just about every winter those two ponds froze solid enough that we could ice skate on them for 4 - 5 weeks. Evenings, people would build bonfires along the shore and, as a kid, was a lot of fun skating around on those ponds in the dark. January thru March 1950 were the coldest. I remember my father coming home one day with the tops of his ears frost bitten. Being a kid, I of course didn't feel the cold like the adults. Today I feel the cold. From what local relatives tell me, they are in agreement with you on the time periods of the most snow. I was down at Lk. Matoon last March and there were people out on the lake ice fishing. I would guess people would skate on the lake if it wasn't covered with snow.

This will be my third winter here and Clem, I agree with you when winter starts. Two winters ago it started snowing Thanksgiving evening and last year, it was snowing by the weekend. Being I don't like the winters I always hope for a short one. Last years was way too long. I envy bears. Would love to hybernate from 15 Nov. to 15 March.
My worst winter byCleElum1 November 13, 2008 (1 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
The winter of 95'-96' ties with one of my other bad years that I can't even remember the year of.

95'-96': I was in western Wa. when the floods hit Centralia, 8 feet of water at Yard Birds(family shopping store). Thought I'd had enough so I moved to CleElum and got snow under. Never seen so much snow.

Appox. 92' I was working down in central Ore., staying on the job in a camp trailor- no heat, bathroom, or running water. 20 degrees above zero daytime temps, and -20 degrees below zero at night. Trailor temperatures same inside as the outside temps., with 3 feet of snow, for 3 weeks straight until the first paycheck got us into a r.v. park.
RE: My worst winter byClem November 13, 2008 (1 votes) (report abuse)
Anybody who winters in an RV in Washington especially on the eastside would know how cold it gets. I think January 1991 it was pretty cold. I remember the pipes freezing and we had to build a fire to thaw the ground to get to the pipes and put a pipe thaw device on. Eventually the city had to come out and dig down to the main pipe. Once it gets below 30 or so in the daytime its a good idea to leave a trickle of water running.

It wasnt too warm today. I got on my bike and rode around for a couple of hours. My feet were rather cold when I got back and the temps were still 40 degrees. I need to get a little tougher for the cold weather. Roslyn has 4-5 riders who put studded tires on their bikes in the winter. I think I am the only one here in CE that rides on the ice.
RE: My worst winter byCleElum1 November 13, 2008 (1 votes) (report abuse)
We called it two dog nights since thats how many dogs we had in bed with us! Ha!
winter... byreesadee November 14, 2008 (1 votes) (report abuse) (reply)
When I first moved to this side of the mountains, 1980 was 6+ feet of snow in the Easton/Cle Elum area. I remember it being magical because I was only 12 years old and had never seen that much snow in my life ever!!
1995 to 1996 was the hardest. We had just moved to Ellensburg and had rented a mobile home. It got so cold that the pump for our well froze. While we worked on that, all our pipes to the trailer froze. 3 days trying to get water (with an 8 year old) was not a happy experience. At midnight on New Years Eve, we were shoveling all the snow off our roof. Then, the floods. That year was the worst ever.

We learned a couple of important lessons on how to survive an Ellensburg winter that year.
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