There has been a lot of talk about climate change, and how we need to do everything we can to mitigate it. At the same time, there has been a lot of talk about how the climate is “always changing,” and that there’s nothing we should or even can do about decreasing our carbon emissions. […]
Our Corrupt Political System
It’s not often that I touch on non-science topics in this blog. But I have some thoughts about what’s been happening this political season, and I thought I’d share them here. I’m not a political scientist, and I admittedly don’t know as much about our government as I should. What I do know, however, is […]
A Transition To More Seasonable Weather
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 […]
Viva La Niña!
Credit: NOAA Earlier this week, my good friends at NOAA (well, hopefully we’ll be best buds someday) issued a La Niña watch for the Tropical Pacific. Some of the models were showing a transition to a La Niña for next winter in the months before, but there was enough spread and uncertainty in the models […]
Record Heat Today?
What a change a month makes! Back on the 10th and 13th of March, we had two powerful windstorms roll through the area, with the one on the 10th causing lots of damage to the Northern Interior and creating a lot of coastal flooding and the one on the 13th making my last day of […]
Another Beautiful Week On Tap
Wow, what a change in weather we have had! From the wettest winter on record to two consecutive weeks with temperatures above 70 degrees! Our transition from autumn to winter is swift, but our transition from winter to spring usually takes a little bit more time. It certainly hasn’t taken much time so far! Last […]
The Demise of The West Antarctic Ice Sheet
On Wednesday, the New York times came out with an alarming article. It said that a new, high-resolution model was showing that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS), a massive ice sheet west of the “Transantarctic Mountains” that divides the continent into eastern and western sections, could melt far faster than previously thought, with sea […]
Beautiful Week Ahead!
I had meant to get to this earlier, but then a funnel cloud occurred over Mill Creek and I had to write about that. Believe it or not, there are people who prefer stormy days with funnel clouds to beautiful, clear, warm sunny days, and I belong to that unique group. However, I’m a big […]
Funnel Cloud Over Mill Creek!
Credit: NASA AQUA Satellite, ~2pm on Easter Sunday, March 27, 2016 Yesterday was definitely a crazy day for weather! For much of the day, a pretty strong Puget Sound Convergence Zone set up shop in the Northern and Central Puget Sound regions, waxing and waning in intensity and shifting northward and southward as the […]
Should Seattle Close Its Parks During Windstorms?
There’s nothing a Pacific Northwest meteorologist likes more than a big windstorm. Flooding rains are interesting, but they make for terrible skiing (something many meteorologists like to do!) and are not nearly as vicious and intense as a windstorm. Snowstorms are awesome because they are so rare, and there’s nothing more beautiful than Seattle with […]