Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
A catastrophic EF-3 tornado tore parts of Alabama and Georgia today, leaving at least 23 people dead and many others injured. This tornado was part of a larger early-season outbreak that brought at least a dozen tornadoes to Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. These tornadoes were formed when an intensifying low-pressure-system over the Southeast […]
