Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
5:30 pm This weather event has played out as expected so far, with gusty, very dry easterly winds over parts of Western Washington and Western Oregon and rapid growth on existing fires. Smoke has also spread north over the Willamette Valley and Puget Sound as easterly flow weakens and veers to the north. Fire danger […]
A critical fire weather event is now underway for SW Washington and Western Oregon. Satellite imagery shows two large smoke plumes emanating from the Double Creek Fire in Central Oregon and the Goat Rocks Fire in SW Washington, with multiple smoke plumes from other, smaller fires over NW Washington and Southern British Columbia. Check out […]
Summer 2022 is one that Pacific Northwest seasonal forecasters would like to have back. On the heels of a very wet and cool spring, and with La Nina conditions persisting in the Tropical Pacific, forecasters favored near or slightly below-average temperatures this summer. Instead, we’ve had well-above-average temperatures ever since late June, with an astonishing […]
6:30 pm EDT Most wildfire starts during Pacific Northwest summers occur on just a couple of days, when large dry lightning outbreaks impact the region. The most extreme dry lightning outbreaks can cause hundreds of starts over a period of hours. A moderate dry lightning outbreak occurred on August 9th and 10th, when a deep […]
I’m writing this blog from a hotel in Greenwich Village in New York City! I flew in here on Wednesday afternoon to spend a few days in the city before going to the Hamptons Jazz Festival on Long Island, a summer-long jazz festival hosting some of the biggest names in jazz. Unfortunately, I was feeling […]
7am Sunday As you’ve probably heard by now, the Pacific Northwest will experience a significant, prolonged heat wave this week. Excessive Heat Watches are currently in effect for the Willamette Valley, Northeast Oregon, and nearly all of Central/Eastern Washington, and the hot weather is expected to persist throughout the week before a very gradual cooling […]
11 pm Saturday After the coldest spring on record for portions of the Pacific Northwest, true summertime warmth has finally arrived! Seattle reached 77 Friday and 86 today, and Portland hit 84 Friday and 93 today – both under bright sunny skies. And even hotter weather is expected Sunday and Monday, with triple digit temperatures […]
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 […]
We are finally starting to see some summer-like weather over the Pacific Northwest. I went for a nice bike ride on Sunday down to West Point in Discovery Park, and the weather was absolutely perfect, with highs touching 70 degrees at Sea-Tac and a mix of clouds and sun. Tons of riders were out on the Burke-Gilman […]
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 […]
