Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
Thanks to an atmospheric river last Sunday that brought flooding to many rivers flowing off the Olympics and Washington Cascades and a strong ridge just offshore for the first half of this week, we’ve had mild temperatures to begin February. Temperatures have been particularly warm east of the Cascade crest – in fact, Walla Walla […]
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 […]
I’ve been taking a well-needed vacation from weather blogging and have been spending some wonderful time with family and friends up in Seattle for the holidays. But with rumors of a White Christmas reverberating from Westlake Center to Sea-Tac Airport, I thought I’d weigh in on the potential for some lowland snow on the 24th […]
It was a fringe event once again, but many places around Puget Sound saw a second lowland snow event yesterday morning and afternoon! It wasn’t as widespread as predicted due to the center of low pressure making landfall near Grays Harbor instead of the mouth of the Columbia, resulting in warmer easterly winds during the […]
First off, I apologize for getting this out so late – I’ve been extraordinarily busy between the WeatherTogether/WeatherQuack merger and work. Trust me, I wanted nothing more than to give y’all a forecast for the November 3rd snow. But I’ll give you the next best thing – a review, and then a look forward to […]
Before I explain Seattle’s crazy weather on Monday, I must apologize for not keeping you updated on the situation throughout the day and night! Since I’ve moved down to Portland, I’ve definitely been more out-of-touch with Seattle weather. Still, that’s no excuse for at least writing a post-storm blog about the insane and unexpected thundersnow […]
Folks in the Seattle metro were treated to some snow this morning as a convergence zone formed over the area! This zone was hinted at by last night’s high-resolution UW WRF-GFS, but the timing was off – the WRF-GFS had the zone occurring slightly later and further to the NE than the zone actually was. […]
My personal “line in the sand” past which lowland snow events become more and more unlikely is Valentine’s Day. After Valentine’s Day, longer days and higher sun angles make cold temperatures at the surface much harder to come by, even if temperatures in the upper atmosphere are just as cold as they were in January. […]
Tonight’s model runs are in, and every model has shifted the plume of moisture I was talking about in last night’s blog slightly further north. Now, it appears as though Portland will be too warm for snow, while Seattle will see several inches of extremely wet, gloppy snow that may have trouble sticking at the […]
We all remember the “Ides of October” windstorm on October 15, 2016. The one that sprung out of Supertyphoon Songda and was feared to be a historic Pacific Northwest windstorm that would long be remembered. Models were originally showing a major windstorm that would pack 100+ mph gusts to the coast and 80 mph winds […]
