Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
Earlier this week, South-Central Montana – and Yellowstone National Park in particular – experienced extreme flooding as an atmospheric river dumped several inches of rain onto a rapidly-melting, well-above-average snowpack, pushing the Yellowstone, Stillwater, and Clarks Fork rivers to record levels. The flooding forced the evacuation of 10,000 citizens and the National Guard rescued 87 […]
La Ninas typically feature cool and wet springs, and the 2021-2022 La Nina has had that in spades. According to Chief Fox12 Meteorologist Mark Nelsen, Portland just experienced its wettest April on record, the coolest April since 2011, and, as denizens of the Portland metropolitan area know all too well, had a very rare April […]
La Nina years are known for bringing hefty snows to the Cascades. I still remember the La Nina year of 2007-2008, when I went skiing in the Alpental backcountry on Memorial Day with my mom. We had to skirt around waterfalls & avoid a few bare patches, but overall there was still a ton of […]
The weather sounds like the most inconsequential thing to talk about during these times, but if it weren’t for – you know – the global pandemic and revolution stuff – it would absolutely make front-line news. A tornado came through Damascus, OR yesterday evening! Take a look at this video from Tim Lussier… it’s not […]
One of our family friends described Pacific Northwest weather as being ‘stuck in a wet sock.’ Today has certainly felt that way. We’ve had a steady drip of rain here on Whidbey Island but hardly anything in the rain gauge to show for it. For some, it’s the perfect complement to a warm cup of […]
We live in a completely different world now than just a week ago. I can’t even imagine what the next weeks, months, or even hours may hold, but I know one thing: this virus will completely restructure our society, economy, and culture, and hopefully towards a more equitable, sustainable direction. In this time of great […]
I went snowshoeing up at Mirror Lake on Saturday, and I can confirm that there is a TON of snow up there! Honestly, it’s shocking that we have as much snow as we do in the 3000-5000′ range of the Southern Washington/Northern Oregon Cascades. According to Mark Nelsen’s most recent blog post, the December 1st […]
Within a few weeks, La “Nina” will be replaced by her cousin, La “Nada,” which is the moniker we’ve lovingly given to ENSO-Neutral Conditions in the Tropical Pacific, where we are neither in a La Nina or an El Nino state. “ENSO” simply refers to “El Nino Southern Oscillation” and is the broad term that […]
We’ve been so hot recently, many of us (including myself) have forgotten that it is only April. Although mountain snow at Snoqualmie Pass becomes increasingly hard to come by after mid-April, it is still relatively common, and we can even have snow there into May. Of course, when you get to 89 degrees in Seattle […]
