Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
The “bomb cyclone” is here, and wow, does it look impressive on satellite! This looks like something you’d see in the Gulf of Alaska, not the Pacific NW. Best satellite pics of the GOES-17 era IMO. 943mb now! #bombcyclone pic.twitter.com/XE0mmmKSnY — Charlie Phillips (@GeoduckChuck) October 24, 2021 The storm dropped to approximately 942 mb, setting […]
A dangerous heat wave will impact the Pacific Northwest this week. It won’t be anywhere near as strong as the “Heat Dome” of June 26-28, but it will still bring record highs to large portions of the Pacific NW Wednesday – Friday, with record highs likely holding on for the inland Pacific NW on Saturday. […]
11:00 pm Monday What a shift in weather we’ve seen over the last week! In my last blog on 5/31, I was talking about the potential for record heat in Portland on Tuesday, 6/1. Portland indeed set a record that day, hitting 95 and breaking the record of 94 set back in 1970. Perhaps even […]
Last Wednesday, the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), a government agency that oversees water resource management in the Western US and Great Plains, announced that they would close the main irrigational canal that draws from Upper Klamath Lake for the 2021 irrigation season. This canal, known as the “A” canal in the USBR-sponsored Klamath […]
What happens when you combine an unstable airmass, a mountain range, and daytime heating? You get scattered afternoon/evening thunderstorms that bubble up along the Cascade crest! We saw a ton of those today and they made for some really pretty views looking east from Portland to the Cascades. Today, a weak upper-level trough moved south […]
I’m writing from the front porch of an old fishing cabin in Sekiu, a small fishing village along the Strait of Juan de Fuca approximately 15 miles ESE of Cape Flattery. I’m being treated to an incredible – and unexpected – lightning show from some strong thunderstorms to our north over the Strait and Southern […]
Hi all, I’m back after a hiatus! We really haven’t had much to talk about and I’ve been busy spending lots of time with my family, so blogging and weather updates have fallen by the wayside. However, we’re expected to see what could be the strongest heat wave of 2020 this weekend, and such blistering […]
I’m committing one of the cardinal sins of weather blogging here: putting a high-impact, but uncertain, forecast in the title of a weather blog. I truly believe that this is an unethical practice, and that those who do it are trading a little part of their journalistic soul in exchange for a few more clicks. […]
I’m a big George Carlin fan, and one of my favorite routines is his comparison of baseball vs football. The thesis of his routine is how baseball is lighthearted and fun, while football is war and nothing less. One example he gives is how a football game will proceed no matter the weather, while a […]
I just got back from a weekend vacation at my uncle’s place in Pacific City, Oregon, but how I wish I could stay just one more night! Why, you may ask? The first significant windstorm of the 2017-2018 storm season is predicted to bring fierce winds to the coast Monday with 20-30 foot waves. Thankfully […]
