Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
We really lucked out with our fire season west of the Cascades this year. After one of the driest springs and hottest/driest summers on record, vegetation was incredibly dry and the environment incredibly flammable. Mercifully, the last half of August were cooler-than-average, and September was both cooler and wetter-than-average. And most importantly, neither had dry thunderstorms […]
A dangerous heat wave will impact the Pacific Northwest this week. It won’t be anywhere near as strong as the “Heat Dome” of June 26-28, but it will still bring record highs to large portions of the Pacific NW Wednesday – Friday, with record highs likely holding on for the inland Pacific NW on Saturday. […]
As of 8/2, Portland and Seattle have seen 48 and 49 consecutive days without measurable precipitation, respectively. Such dry spells aren’t unheard of for the summer – Portland’s record for consecutive dry days is 71 and was set in 1967, and Seattle’s is 55 and was set just back in 2017. But this anomalously long […]
Last week, the Bootleg Fire, a 400,000 acre conflagration that is still only 40% contained, made headlines when it tripped off a set of high-voltage transmission lines known as the California-Oregon Intertie that transmit electricity between the Pacific Northwest and California. At the time, California was experiencing an extreme heat wave and very high electricity […]
Last Wednesday, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), a government agency that oversees water resource management in the Western US and Great Plains, announced that they would close the main irrigational canal that draws from Upper Klamath Lake for the 2021 irrigation season. This canal, known as the “A” canal in the USBR-sponsored Klamath […]
What happens when you combine an unstable airmass, a mountain range, and daytime heating? You get scattered afternoon/evening thunderstorms that bubble up along the Cascade crest! We saw a ton of those today and they made for some really pretty views looking east from Portland to the Cascades. Today, a weak upper-level trough moved south […]
April 2021 was by far the driest April on record for Portland, with only 0.39″ of rain falling at Portland Int’l Airport. This record-dry April occurred on the heels of a much drier-than-average March. As I explained in my last blog post, the entire Western US is experiencing drought conditions, and although the drought is […]
Many locations across the Pacific NW have seen their driest start to spring on record. As of April 22, Portland has seen a paltry 1.64 inches of rain since March 1, which is more than 4 inches below-average. According to the US Drought Monitor, such a dry spring has allowed the moderate drought conditions that […]
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 ran through some quick climate stats for Portland Int’l Airport, and since Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend (5/23), only 2 of 10 weekends (this includes Memorial Day) have had temperatures at or above-average, while 15 of 20 weekdays have seen at or above-average temperatures. And unfortunately for weekend adventurers, this week will bring more […]
