Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
Early autumn is usually pretty tranquil for the Pacific Northwest. The semi-permanent ridge of high pressure in the Eastern Pacific that keeps us so dry and mild through the summer is usually still robust enough to keep the storm track to our north, and any storms that do impact our area are generally pretty wimpy, […]
So far this autumn, most of our precipitation has come in the form of scattered showers as opposed to stratiform rain. That isn’t to say that these showers haven’t been heavy at times… I was biking back home from work on Wednesday, September 12 this past month and got stuck in lock-step with a very […]
Tuesday, October 6, 2015 3:29 pm A tower atop Campbell Hall, Western Oregon University collapsing under the 100+ mph winds of the Columbus Day Storm. Credit: Wes Luchau, Statesman Journal The Pacific Northwest has never gotten hit by a hurricane and never will. Our waters are simply too cold to sustain a tropical system. For a […]
Wednesday, December 17, 2014 1:46 pm Last Thursday night, right after I had finished my final, my mom and I decided to trek up to Sandy Hook, which is a little coastal community situated on Cultus Bay on the southern tip of Whidbey Island, to catch what ended up being the biggest windstorm of the […]
Wednesday, December 10, 2014 12:30 pm I’ve got one more final tomorrow at 11:30 am, but here I am, blogging away my anxiety. Why on Earth would I put 40% of my grade on the line to write a stupid weather blog (and yes, I’m going to need all the time I have to study […]
October 12, 2012 4:18 P.M. As promised, I’ll give you guys a brief overview of the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 since it has been 50 years since it happened. Unfortunately, I had a seizure before the presentation and was still in the ER when the presentation started. Trust me, I tried to convince those […]
October 18, 2011 1:27 P.M. Generally, the Pacific Northwest has gradual seasonal changes. Winter very gradually transitions into spring, and apart from a few thundershowers here and there, spring gradually shifts into summer. Summer also shifts gradually… from cool, cloudy days in June to nice sunny days in August. But there is one season in […]
October 27, 2010 1:59 P.M. Look at that storm!!! Now, many of you may have heard about the huge storm in the Midwest. There has been a lot of talk about it being the strongest extratropical storm on record on the contiguous 48 states. The media generally says it is. However, many of the local […]
Tuesday, September 14, 2010 3:21 P.M. After the Columbus Day Storm, we would be without a major storm for some time. But we had a major windstorm on November 13, 1981. This storm was actually similar to the Columbus Day Storm in depth and track, but its track took it a little further offshore, preventing […]
September 10, 2010 3:31 P.M. Hey everybody. I’ll pick up the tab on where we left off on yesterday. I must emphasize that the contents of this blog are not my own ideas, sure I’m not copying and pasting (except for quotes), but I’m really relying on a variety of sources including books by Glenn […]
