Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
It’s been said that “snow is the most difficult thing to forecast in the Pacific Northwest.” And while I believe this is often true – our terrain, microclimates, and often marginal temperatures can make snow forecasting extraordinarily challenging – I think a corollary is more appropriate. Lowland snow forecasts are, without a doubt, the most […]
When most Portlanders think of December, they think of Christmas trees, advent calendars, and cars with those big bows on them. Certainly not sunny skies, and much less 50+ degree temperatures to accompany them! But that’s exactly what we’ve seen to begin December. There was no measurable precipitation for the first 5 days of December […]
For our high school senior portraits in the Garfield High School yearbook, we had the option of putting a quote next to our name. I quoted the great John Ruskin, a multi-talented, leading English art critic of the Victorian Era. Ruskin wrote the following; I could only include the bolded portion due to space constraints […]
This past Sunday, I went trout fishing on the Yakima River with my dad and brother. The trout were there, but they were sluggish and not particularly enthusiastic about our flies. We didn’t had any hits on dry flies and had a few hits on nymphs, but we were unable to bring any to the […]
I’m currently in Boston for the 100th annual American Meteorological Society conference, and let me tell ya; snow was the very last thing on my mind today. We hit an astonishing 70o degrees today, absolutely smashing the previous daily record of 62. This was only the third time since 1872 that Boston hit 70 in January. But […]
I love the convenience of modern technology. I love how I can pay 10 bucks a month for a music streaming service instead of hauling around a bunch of cassette tapes, I love how I can chat with my brother across different continents, and I love being able to blog about weather, nature, and life […]
This will be a quick post (spoiler alert: it’s not), as my work starts relatively early (4am!) and sleep is one of those things in life you don’t want to skimp on. But I felt obligated to at least give you a brief warning about the cold, windy weather on tap for tomorrow morning so […]
There is a chance of a dusting of snow across the Portland metro area tomorrow morning. Accumulations, if any, should remain under half an inch, and I doubt the morning commute will be affected, though you never know with Portland drivers. Still, it’s pretty insane that we are even talking about snow this late in […]
Snow is in the forecast once again, and this time, Portland should get more than an inch. But before I dive into the snow potential this weekend, let me first touch on the surprise snow that Portland saw Monday night/Tuesday morning. I have to admit, I was pretty jealous when I saw the surprise snowmaggeddon […]
WE DID IT! In an event that far exceeded my expectations, Western Washington and even parts of Western Oregon saw their first White Christmas since 2008. Our storm made landfall further south than modeled, leading to colder conditions throughout the area and snow instead of rain for many locales. As expected, snow accumulations varied dramatically […]
