We are about to repeat an age-old Northwest weather pattern. People complain about the "unusually" cool and cloudy June. The weather prediction for July 4th calls for clouds and a chance of showers, and somehow the fireworks just squeak bye on a cool, but acceptable night. And then the miracle occurs. Like a switch being flipped, our weather warms...
The Unending Trough
| comments
The weather west of the Cascade crest has gone downhill again and the we will stay in this June funk for the next several days. The reason: the amazingly persistent trough over the eastern Pacific. But before I get into that, above is an interesting graph, which shows the water usage in Seattle for this year, 2009, and for averages over 1985-1991...
Low Clouds over the Pacific
| comments
Perhaps the most important characteristic of June weather over the west side of the Northwest is the persistent low-level clouds--the cause of the annual June gloom or Junuary, as some wits like to call it. There is a reason for the low clouds: -the NE Pacific is full of them this time of the year. Look at the visible satellite picture above (from...
Finally! The 75F Ceiling is Broken
| comments
Today, temperature at Seattle Tacoma Airport has reached the the magic number--75F-- in fact later this afternoon temperature climbed to 77F. This is the latest into the summer season that Sea Tac has reached 75F for the first time. As apparent in the high resolution visible satellite image below--a clear zone existed today over western Oregon and...
Unusual Murk Strikes the NW
| comments
Even for me, a lover of rain and clouds, this is going too far.Today was an amazingly murky day for much of the region, in addition to tying the record low-high at Seattle Tacoma Airport (55F). 55F is the typical high for mid April. You have heard of all the notable records for monthly precipitation and daily temperatures--I won't bore (or depress)...
The Great Weather Divide
| comments
Today, some of the media are forecasting general showers over western Washington, but the reality will be very different between north and south. A tight upper level low is moving SE into Oregon (see graphic above) and a band of clouds and precipitation are wrapping around it (see image).Try this animation of the visible satellite imagery:http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/loopsat.php?wfo=sew&area=west&type=vis&size=1The...
Don't Forget Portland...and the weekend
| comments
Snow at Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood on WednesdayI talk a lot about Seattle wather in this blog (for obvious reasons), but as bad as it has been in western Washington, Portland and vicinity have been worse. For example, Portland has broken its ALL TIME MONTHLY RECORD precipitation for June, HALFWAY through it. Impressive. There has been a persistent...
The Cool Returns
| comments
The cool weather and the lack of warm days is killing honey bees in our area.After a decent weekend, things are going downhill again.First, as indicated by the chart below, we failed to reach 75F this weekend and thus we are completely smashing the 75F record...we are now the latest of all years in getting to 75F (old record was June 9). And it is...
Finally Summer!
| comments
Today's visible image says it all--clear skies except for some regional low clouds that are rapidly burning off. Here is the latest forecast of max temps today from probcast:mid-seventies over central Puget Sound and even warmer (80s!) east of the Cascades and in the Willamette Valley. Finally, a summer-like day that will get those strawberries...
Remarkable Convergence Zone Rain
| comments
We have had some very strong showers over the region during the past six hours and particularly in a convergence zone over the north Sound and eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca (check out recent radar above). It is really pouring in some locations. Take a look at the last 6-h rainfall from the Seattle rainwatch web site (www.atmos.washington.edu/SPU)....
Weekend Heat Wave...but first
| comments
It is really looking like we will FINALLY see some real warmth this weekend...but first there will be clouds and rain.As an amusing aside, it looks certain that we will break a major record tomorrow...the latest in the season that the Sea-Tac maximum temperature has not hit 75F! The record is June 9...and there is virtually no chance we will get...
The First Day of Summer: When Will It Be?
| comments
The big question that is on everyone's mind:When will summer really begin?There is a stock answer that local meteorologists give for this query: July 12th. And it is usually pretty close to the truth.First, lets get real. June is often a bad month in Seattle. June gloom. Lots of low clouds. ( The good thing is you can usually get out of it by...
Funnel Cloud and Sunday's Weather
| comments
Here is a picture sent to me by Michael Baseflug (forwarded to him by a co-worker) of a funnel cloud observed around 5:10 PM today (Friday). And another one provided by Brad Colman of the National Weather Service: Looking at the radar this funnel was embedded in some heavy precipitation associated with the current Puget Sound convergence zone. ...
No windstorm and a decent Saturday
| comments
Weather Gods Like Coastal Weather RadarsEarlier this week it looked like a strong low center and attendant windstorm would strike our region. No longer. The weather gods have been satiated. It is quite possible they are pleased with the National Weather Service's decision to bring a weather radar to our coast a year earlier. A sure sign of respect.In...
Major Radar Announcement
| comments
Today, Senator Maria Cantwell announced that the new coastal radar would be installed one year earlier than initially planned--thus, it should be in place by September 2011. (see her press release--http://cantwell.senate.gov/news/record.cfm?id=325432)The National Weather Service has found an available WSR-88D radar unit (these are the radars that currently comprise the current national radar network) at Keesler Air Force Base and will update it with dual-polarization hardware. This unit will then be moved to Grays Harbor county and placed on one of the three potential sites identified in the recently released...
Weather Picture of the Day
| comments
Take a look at this satellite picture: a line of clouds and rain stretching THOUSANDS of miles are headed for our area. This looks like November!The rain is now moving into western Washington and the latest forecast is for substantial rain, particularly on the western side of our terrain (see 24-h precip map ending at 5 PM Wednesday).A windstorm...
