Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
Hi all, I know it’s been a LONG time since I’ve posted on this blog! I have a major life update: I recently accepted an offer from Iowa State University to begin a PhD program in electrical engineering. I will begin working as a research assistant in May and start taking classes in August. My […]
Since Christmas, the storm track has shifted south to California, bringing heavy rain and mountain snow to the Golden State. Parts of the Sierra Nevada have seen over 20 inches of liquid-equivalent precipitation, much of it in the form of snow. The most recent tempest occurred on January 4th and 5th. The image below shows […]
Freezing rain is finally over for most of Western Washington. I went out for a walk around Sandpoint Way earlier this evening, and though temperatures were above freezing and the roads were bare and wet, the sidewalks were still a slippery, icy mess. Reports ranged from around 1/8″ of an inch of ice near Bothell […]
Quick forecast update. The storm tracked slightly further north than modeled, meaning that mild southerlies (and rain) extended to the King/Snohomish County line instead of staying south of Seattle. The Everett area saw 1-3 inches overnight, depending on elevation, and totals increased northward from there. Whatcom County got clobbered, with reports of over a foot […]
I’ve always said that there are far more snow days forecast for the Pacific Northwest than appear in reality. There are a few reasons for this. The first is that there are multiple weather models, running multiple times a day, that show nearly every possible weather solution under the sun over the course of the […]
Snow is falling over Western Washington and parts of NW Oregon this morning. I’ve been riding the train down from Seattle to Portland and saw close to an inch in the higher elevations near Centralia. I’m now in Kelso and everything has switched to a cold rain, with no snow accumulation to be found. This […]
November 2022 started out with a bang. A very strong, westerly atmospheric river came through the area on Friday, November 4, resulting in extreme rainshadowing for the Seattle area but widespread flooding over the Washington Cascades. And entering the second week of November, some forecasts were calling for an early-season shot of lowland snow. The […]
After a record-hot and dry summer/autumn, storm season has finally arrived to the Pacific Northwest. A moderate cold front on Friday brought the first measurable rain of October to Western Washington, and on Saturday, a persistent Puget Sound Convergence Zone formed over the Seattle area. With a total of 0.72 inches of rain at Sea-Tac, […]
Back in June, most extended forecasts were calling for near or slightly cooler-than-average temperatures for the Pacific Northwest with near or slightly below-average precipitation. It was a reasonable forecast; after all, we had just gone through one of the wettest and coolest springs on record, and a moderate La Nina was expected to persist through […]
October is a month of changes. Leaves turn from green to red, the weather turns from sunny to stormy, and the Mariners – at least for the last 21 years – hang up their cleats until the following spring. But not this year! We’ve just gone through one of the driest summers and early autumns […]
