The Showers and Sunbreaks of Spring

When somebody asks me the forecast and I want to give them a (good-spirited) sarcastic response, I’ll usually give them a forecast of “showers and sunbreaks.” I’ll say something like “we’ll see various types of weather tomorrow, with some locations seeing mainly sun, other locations seeing mainly rain, and others seeing a combination of showers […]

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Cold Core Funnel Clouds Possible Through Early Evening

The Portland NWS issued a “Special Weather Statement” at 4pm warning of the potential for “cold core funnel clouds” this afternoon. But what is a “cold core funnel cloud,” you might ask?? Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Portland OR 400 PM PDT Tue Jun 16 2020 ORZ006>008-170100- Greater Portland Metro Area-Central Willamette Valley- South […]

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Storm Chasing Days 6-10: Lots of Driving, Damaging Hail, and Chasing the Wrong Storm

Here are the last 5 days of our storm chasing trip from early June. I apologize profusely for not getting these out in a timely fashion! Day 6 (Saturday 6/2/2018) With no storms in the vicinity for the next two days, we decided to take it easy and hang out in Grand Island. As we […]

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Storm Chasing Day 3: The Dust Front

Dust being kicked up by the thunderstorm's incoming gust front.

We knew that the majestic, rotating supercell we saw yesterday (Tuesday 5/29/2018) would be very hard to surpass, but Wednesday ended up far exceeding our expectations. Even as early as the night before, the Storm Prediction Center only had “marginal risk” for severe weather over the Western Oklahoma/NW Texas region. But in the morning, the […]

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Reviewing Our Thursday Thunderstorms

In the wake of the incredible thunderstorms many locations around the area saw Thursday, I thought I’d write a review on the amazing and very uncommon weather we saw last week. In the interest of time, I will spend relatively little time reviewing general thunderstorm knowledge, but if you are interested, you can read a 4-part […]

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Hook Echoes, a Strong Texas Tornado, and Softball-Sized Hail

April 26, 2015 2:34 pm SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 436 PM CDT SUN APR 26 2015 TXC143-262200- /O.CON.KFWD.TO.W.0007.000000T0000Z-150426T2200Z/ ERATH TX- 436 PM CDT SUN APR 26 2015 …A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 500 PM CDT FOR SOUTHERN ERATH COUNTY… AT 436 PM CDT…A LARGE TORNADO WAS LOCATED JUST […]

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The Graceful Apocalypse: Part 1 – Basic Thunderstorm Knowledge

Tuesday, August 13, 2013 4:25 P.M. Last Friday night will rank up, at least in my mind, with some of the most memorable weather events in Seattle’s history. That means I’ll put it right up there with the Inaugural Day Storm, the Hanukkah Eve Storm (and associated torrential downpour), the December 2008 snow events, the 2007 Great Coastal Gale… […]

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Die Another Day

Saturday, April 13, 2013 5:04 P.M. From Wednesday, April 10, 2013: “We’ll have some rain coming in Friday afternoon, but I’ll bet my life on having a strong convergence zone somewhere in the area Saturday afternoon due to a cool, moist, onshore flow splitting around the Olympics and converging somewhere along Puget Sound. If I’m still […]

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Yesterday’s Weather, Turning Colder

Saturday, November 11, 2011 1:59 P.M. Before I elaborate on what I think the weather will be like, I’d like to point out the strength of the front we saw yesterday. Yesterday’s front wasn’t big and didn’t produce a whole bunch of rain, but it was strong and consolidated, and it really packed quite a […]

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Tornadoes of 2011

We have, as of May 24th, seen 1,208 tornadoes this year, and there was a significant tornado outbreak yesterday and another smaller one today. That is absolutely incredible. The average for the entire year in the U.S. is 1274, a record we will surely break. At this rate, it is also highly likely that we […]

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