Corbett weather is different than the Portland metro area due to elevation and our location at the west end of the Columbia River Gorge. First, almost the entire area is above the 500 ft. elevation, with some homes as high as 1,800 ft. That means temperatures run 5-10 degrees cooler than Portland year-round. As a result summers are perfect with very few hot days and overnight temps that drop off quickly. Hardly a need for air conditioning here! In the winter that means harder freezes and a better chance for snow at times, especially once you get east of "Downtown Corbett" up around 1,000 ft. and above.
Of course Corbett is known for THE EAST WIND. The most common misconception Portlanders make is thinking the wind blows all the time out here. Not true; it's generally a cold season wind. It's caused by cooler air east of the mountains moving through the Gorge, then accelerating out the west end. East wind tends to ramp up after Halloween, gradually increasing in strength and occurrence through November. During the peak of the "wind season", in December and January, it can blow for many days in a row without letting up. Meanwhile if you go a few miles south or west it'll often be calm! Then in early March it suddenly disappears. During that 3-4 month period, Corbett is often the windiest place in the Pacific Northwest. When the wind is accompanied by temperatures below freezing (Brrr!), the liquid rain we normally see in the winter falls through this thin layer of wind and cold. It freezes on contact into an icy glaze that covers anything outside. It's beautiful, but slippery! The Corbett area gets more of this freezing rain in the winter than any other part of the Pacific Northwest. Eventually the wind goes back to a warmer southerly direction, the ice melts, and we're just getting plain wet like the rest of the Portland Metro area. This cycle of east wind, freezing rain, and then warming sometimes happens only once per winter, but in cold winters can show up several times.
Mark Nelsen
Chief Meteorologist KPTV/KPDX |