We have very warm air over us today...temperatures are already in the lower to mid 50s. There is some fog around and some high clouds associated with the warm front pushing north (see sat picture). The clouds should lessen during the afternoon..and where sun some through the temperature will rise rapidly to 60F and more. A short-term computer forecast...
Sunday still looks good
| comments
As I mentioned in my earlier messages, Sunday is the day to get out. Today is the transition day as a warm front moves through....mostly cloudy and some light drizzle in the Puget Sound lowlands....with showers in the mountains (see cam shot at Crystal mt). Not much snow in the WA Cascades...and Whistler had barely enough snow for their upper runs....
The Worst Day
| comments
Good day for shopping. This will be the worst day of the weekend. Light rain is slowly spreading south through the region now (see radar). Right now it is raining in the northern portion of western Washington..although the rain shadow ne of the olympics is keeping it fairly dry in the sequim/port townsend area. So clouds and light rain will be...
Thanksgiving and the Upcoming "Heat Wave"
| comments
The second half of November has been one of the driest and sunniest in memory...and the fun is not over yet! I just got back from a long run on the Burke Gilman Trail and the mountains were sharply defined and a clear zone was northwest of Mt Rainer. An altocumulus cloud deck with breaks was overhead..the harbinger of a weak front that is now nearing...
The Banana Belt
| comments
Want to enjoy temperatures in the 70's and go sun bathing this weekend?...it is only a car ride away....head to the southern Oregon coast this weekend. The area around Brookings is known as the banana belt of the Northwest...and for good reason. Any time of the year...even in the dead of winter...if there is strong offshore flow the temperatures...
Big Ridge
| comments
This week will be uneventful. Today, a week front will move in during the day--with some light rain in the interior somewhere between roughly 10 AM and 5 PM (see front on satellite picture). Wednesday will be dry with sun. And then a weak system will move through late Thursday, But the big story is what will happen on Friday through at least Sunday...a...
The Greatest Local Weather Threat
| comments
What do you think is the greatest local weather threat? Heavy rain? Strong winds? Flooding? No way...it is black ice on the roads. Clearly, icy roads kill more NW residents than any other weather phenomenon. When is the greatest threat? Now! The worst situations are generally during late fall and early winter when there are clear skies, radiation cooling to space, relatively light winds, and fog. If you are interested in this threat...and want to learn how to protect yourself...check out the roadway icing tutorial I wrote a while back:http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~cliff/Roadway3.htmlToday will be partly...
The Subtleties of Clear Weather
| comments
It is clear over much of the reason, EXCEPT for the normally foggy areas, like the Willamette Valley...a bowl that tends to collect cool, saturated air (see pic). Some obvious fog in the valleys of NE Washington. This morning there was frost outside but my thermometers read 37F. How is that possible? The reason is that on clear nights the earth...
Showers and Sunbreaks
| comments
Today is classic postfrontal conditions around here. Showers and sunbreaks. Interestingly, this is completely different than the eastern part of the country...there when a front goes through temps fall, skies clear, and precipitation is over. The reason we have a lot of our showers after frontal passage? The Pacific Ocean. As cold air from Alaska...
An Unusually Good End of November
| comments
Typically the last weeks of November are the bottom of NW weather...the wettest, stormiest time of the year. But not this year. I am going to fix up my bicycle for some nice rides. Today is a break before the next system..poised off our coast, arrives around dinner time (see satellite pic). The approach of this system is clearly showed by high-resolution...
Another Frontal Passage
| comments
Take a look at the radar this morning from Camano Island (see attached). A frontal zone is moving through now with the yellows indicating moderate rain. You will also see the lack of rain to the NE of the Olympics...the old rain shadow.An infrared satellite picture clearly shows the front and convective clouds (cumulus type) clouds behind it. Those...
Easterly Flow
| comments
Today will be a partly sunny with no precipitation. Temps will get up into the lower 50s. Right now there is fairly high pressure over British Columbia and eastern Washington..with lower pressure offshore. This produces what we call an offshore pressure gradient....a change of pressure that accelerates winds to the west...particularly in gaps in...
Weak front and rain on Thursday
| comments
A weak front moved through last night and this morning, bring some light showers and clouds. Yesterday was extraordinary with some favored locations getting into the mid-60s. The clouds are dissipating and there is considerable sun...particularly not of Seattle (see image). There is considerable cirrus cloud cover over the region and if you look...
Better than your average November
| comments
Yesterday was generally dry and warmer than normal. The biggest issue for some near Puget Sound was that the fog held around in some areas into the afternoon. Other places cleared out by noon and climbed into the upper 50s. Take a look at the graph of our temperatures versus the normal highs and lows (light red..normal highs, light blue...normal...
A Respite from the Rain
| comments
So far this month we are running about twice the normal rainfall, mainly due to last week, but temps have been considerably above normal.... my garden is still very much alive. See how dense the fog is this morning (see photo)...that is a very good sign. Generally that means that is mainly clear above, allowing good radiational cooling to space..until...
Nice Weekend and LA Fires
| comments
This weekend will be better than average. There are some clouds and a few sprinkles over the northern portion of the state, but they will slowly push northward later today (see computer model precip forecast for 1 PM today). The showers and clouds will be even further north tomorrow as high pressure builds--so for most of western Washington we will...
The Weekend
| comments
The weekend looks generally dry over the southern portion of the state, with a chance of showers over the north. This is particularly true on Saturday when a very weak frontal zone will be stretched over the northern portion of the State. This band will tend to move northward on Sunday...so I expect that to be the better day. Temps in the mid 50s.Right...
A Major Improving Trend
| comments
The heavy precipitation event is over now...and some of the rainfall totals in the mountains were impressive: over the past 48 hrs this is how much rain fell:Snoqualmie Pass 8.66 inchesStampede Pass 8.60Rainier Paradise 6.74Hoh Ranger Station 6.40while at Sea Tac is was only 1.15 and at the UW about .5 inch. A wonderful example of what happens...
Flooding and Rainshadow
| comments
Today I biked to the UW and was perfectly dry. No rain gear needed and the temperature was so warm I had to remove my sweater. In contrast, it is pouring on the coast, over SW Washington, and in the Cascades, with a number of locations getting close to .5 inches per HOUR. The reason: a very evident rainshadow to the lee (east) of the Olympics (see...
| comments
The next two days will be very wet in mountains, but much less so in the lowlands. Winds will also pick up later today...but once we get through this, a very much improving trend is ahead.The satellite image shows the story, one (weak) disturbance is over us now, and a second, beefier one, is moving rapidly our way. Note how the clouds of the second...
Hell, Then Heaven
| comments
Today will be pleasant break in the weather with some sun and temps getting into the mid-50s. But things are going to change in a big way.A very moist pattern will set up for a few days and flooding will probably occur along some of the local rivers. A warm front will approach the region tomorrow am...and we should be cloudy and raining on Tuesday...
A few showers today
| comments
A weak trough is over us today and you can see the associated clouds in the the infrared satellite picture. The radar shows light showers moving through in the radar (pink colors are light rain). As this trough moves through expect improvement today with rain ending most lowland locations by lunch (although there could be a few isolated light showers)....
Sunday Break
| comments
Well, the continuous moderate rain is over, so the rivers should start to recede, but one more strong precipitation line is about to hit at 8:30 AM (see radar). There will be moderate rain for roughly an hour as this line passes through and then by lunch we will be in sunbreaks and light showers. Temperatures should also be cooler today as we get...
The Worst Will Soon Be Over in Seattle
| comments
We are now in a very warm, wet pattern, with rain falling at all elevations. At Sand Point in Seattle we have a device called the profiler that continuously measures wind and temp above (see figure). Time increases from right to left, the heights are in meters (1500 m is roughly 5000 ft), temps are in red and roughly 15C in the lower atmosphere right...
