9AM view in Seattle looking toward Mt. Rainernoon--brightening up3PM: cool, cloudy air all mixed out and some convection over the mountains.Today was an interesting day, really dense fog and low clouds over much of the west, with some drizzle in some locations (like on me as I biked in today). (see images above)Believe it or not, when you see such...
Thunderstorms and Rain to the East
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Thunderstorms and heavy rain have hit the eastern slopes of the Cascades and portions of eastern Washington and Oregon, with a little spill-over over the upper slopes of western WA.Take a look at the radar imagery tonight around 7:15 PM from the Spokane and Portland radars (see below). Lots of echos east of the crest with very heavy rainfall over...
Subtleties
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We are now in a stretch of magnificent summer weather, with day after day warming above normal (see graphic above). In fact, way above normal (roughly 10F!). This week we will continue the sun, but with some cooling and more clouds, so we will head to more normal territory. This time of the year a key aspect of the forecast problem is deciding how...
Strange Clouds Explained!
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Picture Courtesy of Lisa HortonSince last night I have gotten nearly a dozen emails from people in Seattle who reported seeing "weird", "strange", and even "scary" clouds. Above and below are nice examples of the view that many Seattle residents had Thursday evening in the hours around sunset.Picture courtesy of Andy Bokanev.Some thought the clouds...
The Current Drought and Warmth Ahead
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There have been a number of complaints in the media and among some locals about our "year without a summer", "Junuary", "Julember" and other griping about our current weather.OK, we have generally been somewhat cooler than normal, with persistent low clouds in the morning. But one aspect of this summer has been BETTER THAN NORMAL: we have been unusually...
Stephen H. Schneider: A Major Passing
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Stephen Schneider and Me in 1974 at NCAR, Boulder ,COThis is going to be a more personal blog than normal and a sad one for me. Yesterday, Stephen H. Schneider, a very prominent climatologist and someone who had a major impact on my career passed away. Steve was one of the key individuals in bringing the issue of global warming to the world's attention....
Microsoft, The Gates Foundation, and Math Education: A Depressing Tale
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Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt...
One State: Different Weather
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It is interesting to look at the recent temperatures across the Washington State and huge variability one sees.Lets start with Quillayute (Forks) near the coast (see graphic). For most of the past two weeks it has been cooler and cloudier than normal, but they had that amazing heat wave between July 6-10th in which they greatly exceed the normal max...
Weather Restaurants
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For those of us who love the weather, what could be better than a restaurant dedicated or named after our favorite interest? Here in the Northwest a number of dining establishments are weather oriented and in this blog I will describe only a few.Well, I might as well start off with my favorite, a weather theme restaurant with a wonderful location...
Smoke, Dust, and Eastern Washington Wind
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Ever notice than when cool, cloudy conditions move into western Washington during the summer, eastern Washington weather can become very active with strong winds, wildfire blow-ups, and sometimes dust storms? Well, it happened again today!Earlier today a weak cold front/trough moved through the area. Cool air and high pressure spread into the west...
Maybe not so cool
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Although some forecast outlets are going for a major cool-down into the 70s from todays 93F....it is looking more and more that it is going to be much warmer tomorrow than expected. At the point I would predict low to mid 80s...and 84F would be a good number for Sea Tac. Why do I say that? The onshore push tonight will be exceedingly weak...that is evident by the lack of an onshore pressure difference. The clouds moving in overhead will work against nighttime cooling. Computer models only suggest a modest cool down aloft. And the thin stratus deck offshore evaporated this afternoon. There will be very limited...
The Changes Have Begun
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Today was a scorcher, but tomorrow (Friday) should be a few degrees cooler...still hot, but a bit more tolerable.The thermal trough has now jumped into eastern Washington and there is now a weak onshore pressure gradient...which will push somewhat cooler air into western Washington.Sea Tac Airport is 3 degrees cooler than the same time last night.The...
The Perfect Heat Wave
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Thursday AM Update: Temps this morning are running about 5-7F ahead of yesterday, so today will peak in the lower to mid 90s for most. Low clouds on the coast, where it is much cooler today...a sign of the changes comingThis week we are having the perfect heat wave--long enough to get the feeling of warmth, but short enough that our homes and apartment...
Upcoming Heat Wave and the Start of Summer
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This year it will be very easy to note the start of summer in western Washington---it will be Tuesday, July 7th. We are just about to make the big summer transition and the change will startle you....somewhat like a meteorological slap to the face.Today, it got to 65 at the airport, when 74F is typical...9 degrees below normal. But for the remainder...
