Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
La Ninas typically feature cool and wet springs, and the 2021-2022 La Nina has had that in spades. According to Chief Fox12 Meteorologist Mark Nelsen, Portland just experienced its wettest April on record, the coolest April since 2011, and, as denizens of the Portland metropolitan area know all too well, had a very rare April […]
Remember the “Blob?” That awful patch of sterile, warm water from late 2013-2015 and again in summer 2019? Well, now we have the opposite of the “Blob;” a swath of cooler-than-average water along the West Coast extending all the way to Hawaii. What do you think we should call it? In the past I’ve called […]
La Nina years are known for bringing hefty snows to the Cascades. I still remember the La Nina year of 2007-2008, when I went skiing in the Alpental backcountry on Memorial Day with my mom. We had to skirt around waterfalls & avoid a few bare patches, but overall there was still a ton of […]
In my AP European History class back in high school, I remember being astounded by some of the suffixes that the kings and queens had. With a name like Louis XVI, is it any surprise that the French rose up and demanded a change in government? In the spirit of European monarchies, we have our […]
When I was younger, my parents would get me the “Old Farmers Almanac” every year for Christmas. In a time before I knew about dynamical climate models and ensemble-based, bias-corrected seasonal forecasting, the Old Farmer’s Almanac seasonal forecasts were a godsend. Part of the allure of the Almanac for an upstart weather zealot like myself […]
I was perusing the Facebook weather-sphere the other day, and KPTV chief meteorologist Mark Nelsen pointed out that the Blob had resurfaced dramatically over the past month in the Northeast Pacific. Taking a look at weekly SSTs, I’d say he’s onto something! Below are SST anomalies in mid February and mid March – you can […]
Thursday, January 28, 2016 1:44 pm Credit: NOAA National Center for Environmental InformationRetrieved from www.resilientdesign.org 2015 was destined to be the warmest year on record. In terms of ocean temperatures, we had one of the strongest El Niños on record brewing in the Tropical Pacific, a mighty “Blob” of warm water in the Northeast Pacific, and abundant […]
Thursday, October 1, 2015 4:08 p.m. At Sea-Tac, the last time we had a month that was cooler than average for that month was February 2014. Since then, 20 months have passed, with 19 consecutive months being warmer than normal. That’s right… this September was the first colder than normal month since February 2014. We’ve […]
Saturday, July 11, 2015 5:04 pm Hello everybody! I’ve been living in the woods for the past 3+ weeks up near Granite Falls, Washington, and there ain’t no WIFI in the woods, so that’s why the blogs have temporarily ceased. But right now, I am just relaxing at home, as I have a day off […]
