Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
Earlier this week, South-Central Montana – and Yellowstone National Park in particular – experienced extreme flooding as an atmospheric river dumped several inches of rain onto a rapidly-melting, well-above-average snowpack, pushing the Yellowstone, Stillwater, and Clarks Fork rivers to record levels. The flooding forced the evacuation of 10,000 citizens and the National Guard rescued 87 […]
Atmospheric rivers, like the one over Western WA right now, are strong, narrow, and often slow-moving streams of mild, moist air stretching from the subtropics to the midlatitudes. When this air slams into terrain like the Cascades or Olympics, it is forced to rise, resulting in even more clouds and even heavier rain. The strongest […]
I’m a firm believer that it’s important to pick up a winter sport if you live in the Pacific Northwest. It could be snowshoeing. Or perhaps heli-skiing is your cup of tea. It doesn’t matter the sport – all that matters is that it requires mountain snow. Why do I hold such a strong belief? […]
The “bomb cyclone” is here, and wow, does it look impressive on satellite! This looks like something you’d see in the Gulf of Alaska, not the Pacific NW. Best satellite pics of the GOES-17 era IMO. 943mb now! #bombcyclone pic.twitter.com/XE0mmmKSnY — Charlie Phillips (@GeoduckChuck) October 24, 2021 The storm dropped to approximately 942 mb, setting […]
The 2021-2022 storm season is knocking at our door. Take a look at the precipitable water imagery over the East Pacific and note the dramatic stream of subtropical moisture barreling towards the Pacific Northwest. This is technically an “atmospheric river,” a long, narrow filament of moisture from the subtropics (in this case, the East China […]
In my last post on August 9, I talked about a record heat wave slated for the upcoming week. After a month-long blogging hiatus, I get to blog about something much different – a chilly, early-season atmospheric river expected to bring heavy rain Friday & Saturday morning, with periods of rain persisting through the weekend. […]
It now appears likely that Western Washington and NW Oregon will experience a series of significant winter storms from midday Thursday through Saturday evening, bringing snow, sleet, freezing rain, extremely strong east winds, and a prolonged period of subfreezing temperatures. I’ve been dying to write this post – I’ve been absolutely swamped the past several […]
It’s been a while since we had a significant, regionwide, winter windstorm hit the Pacific NW. The last major windstorm to hit the Inland Northwest was the 11/17/2015 windstorm, which brought an extended period of 60-70 mph gusts to Eastern Washington and devastated electrical grids around the region. Avista Corporation, a utility headquartered in Spokane […]
In my last blog post on 8/30, I warned of a “late-season heatwave with offshore flow” that would “dramatically increase fire danger for the Pacific Northwest.” But when I wrote that, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we’d see a wind/firestorm the intensity of the one witnessed earlier this month. I work […]
This post was co-produced with fellow WeatherTogether blogger Mark Ingalls of Kennewick, WA. From Wednesday, 2/5 – Saturday 2/8, the Blue Mountains of Southeast Washington and Northeast Oregon witnessed a historic, unprecedented period of heavy rain and flooding. Like almost all of out wintertime river flooding events, this event associated with an atmospheric river – […]
