Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
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 […]
According to a 2005 Gallup poll, Americans think November is the 8th best month of the year. November has a few things going for it; the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, increasingly competitive football games, not-shaving – but it seems most Americans believe these attributes are overshadowed by how dark, cold, and depressing the month is […]
By now, many of us have heard of the term “bomb cyclone.” Just like “polar vortex,” “bomb cyclone”/”bombogenesis”/”meteorological bomb” (and many other bomb-related derivatives) has actually been in the meteorological literature for decades, first entering the vernacular in the Bergen School in the 40s and 50s to describe the explosively-developing cyclones over the North Atlantic. […]
We will enter a much stormier pattern Wednesday that will persist through the weekend and possibly beyond, with moderate/strong systems affecting the area every 24-36 hours. Because these storms will be quick-moving and temperatures will be relatively cool, no flooding is expected and we will instead see significant early-season snowfall in the mountains. Not enough […]
With a strong atmospheric river underway, I thought I’d take some time to delve a little deeper into these phenomena. In this blog, I’ll cover the basic characteristics of an atmospheric river, how these atmospheric rivers form, and a brief summary of how they relate to the Earth’s heat budget. Throughout the blog, I’ll use […]
Monday, November 21, 2011 10:07 A.M. I have to be brief, as I will have classes in 20 minutes, but I thought I’d give you an update on the major storm that will impact us tonight into Wednesday. I looked over the model runs this morning, and it looks as if the storm is now […]
Sunday, November 20, 2011 8:43 P.M. Carol Snider – Urban Flooding in Seattle – December 3, 2007 Approximately four years ago, one of the strongest storms to ever hit our area, the “Great Coastal Gale,” brought hurricane-force winds to the coast and major flooding throughout the area. While the inland areas didn’t get hit quite […]
September 21, 2011 10:44 P.M. 11:59 pm PST Sun 02 Dec 2007 Radar Image The above picture was taken around midnight on Monday, December 3, 2007. I remember the day of this storm because it was one of the strongest storms I have ever seen in my life. This storm has since been known as […]
October 24, 2010 10:21 P.M. I hope you guys like the new blogger template by the way. I don’t care for it too much but it is a newer update so I can do more stuff, like put bigger pictures on it and stuff. I’m a fan of bigger pictures. ‘merica, right? Bigger is better. However, […]
Wednesday, October 6, 2010 Many people would be surprised to find out that the Pacific Northwest gets some of the biggest floods in the world. The reason why it is not common knowledge is because the places that flood are usually sparsely populated (like Snoqualmie or Concrete) or have no people at all (like many […]
