Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
We finished January on a stormy note. I headed up to Whidbey Island last Friday night the 31st to visit my folks, and we lost power on my way up due to strong southerly winds from an atmospheric river that was aimed primarily at NW Washington and Vancouver Island. We are located at the very […]
Yesterday, my parents drove down all the way from Seattle to celebrate my 27th birthday with me in Portland. I knew that the Willamette was running high, so we decided to go visit Willamette Falls in Oregon City. In my opinion, Willamette Falls is one of the most under-appreciated natural phenomena in the world – […]
Featured image credit: Brie Hawkins When Boston hit 70 degrees yesterday, I assumed it was the warmest weather I’d ever witness in New England in January. Well, Boston hit 74 today. 74 is the average high for June 5th and the highest all-time January temperature since records began back in 1872, so this is an […]
I’m currently in Boston for the 100th annual American Meteorological Society conference, and let me tell ya; snow was the very last thing on my mind today. We hit an astonishing 70o degrees today, absolutely smashing the previous daily record of 62. This was only the third time since 1872 that Boston hit 70 in January. But […]
Beginning late last week, the GFS (American) model began showing a transition to much colder weather for early-mid January. However, the normally-superior ECMWF (European) model did not, and given how far in advance the forecast was, it was a bit premature to throw the “s” word around. After all, we’ve seen the disastrous repercussions of […]
So far this year, I’ve only got one day of skiing in, and I count myself lucky to even have that! I went with some weather colleagues up to Mt. Hood Meadows a few Saturdays back, and the amount of snow cover there was downright depressing. On the other hand, if I can get up […]
Meteorologically speaking, I can’t remember ever seeing a more boring November & first half of December in my life. I was looking through some climate stats, and the last time Portland saw at least a half inch of rain was on September 17, when 1.01 inches of liquid sunshine fell at the airport. The last […]
The Portland metro area should see some light snow some tonight! Most folks will just see a dusting, and up to an inch could fall above 500 feet (especially over Western Washington County) and east of I-205. But despite the light amounts, it’s wonderful to start December off with some snow. We have a complex […]
By now, many of us have heard of the term “bomb cyclone.” Just like “polar vortex,” “bomb cyclone”/”bombogenesis”/”meteorological bomb” (and many other bomb-related derivatives) has actually been in the meteorological literature for decades, first entering the vernacular in the Bergen School in the 40s and 50s to describe the explosively-developing cyclones over the North Atlantic. […]
I love the convenience of modern technology. I love how I can pay 10 bucks a month for a music streaming service instead of hauling around a bunch of cassette tapes, I love how I can chat with my brother across different continents, and I love being able to blog about weather, nature, and life […]
