NEWS FLASH: 7.71 inches in Portland (KPDX) at 10 AM, with 15 hours remaining in March 2012, makes this the wettest March in the historical record going back 73 years to 1940. The previous wettest March had been 1957 with 7.52 inches.The complaints have become a crescendo. Our Gortex jackets are hopelessly saturated and basements are...
We Can Fix the K-12 Educational System
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"The Road to Hell is Paved with Good Intentions"Some good-intentioned, but misinformed, folks in our state legislature, on the editorial board of the Seattle Times, among the very rich, and in some major foundations are now hell-bent to "solve" the education problem with a devilish brew of charter schools, teacher assessments, union bashing, and "ed...
The Strengthening Sun
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We have had a lot of sun the past few days and one thing that is apparent is the gathering strength of the solar radiation we are receiving. It seems strange, but the sun right now is roughly equivalent to that of mid-September, before summer's end. Just to illustrate, here are monthly radiation values from NREL, the U.S. government...
Hook Echo on the Washington Coast?
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Ask any tornado stormchaser. You want to find severe convection, tornadoes and big hail? Look for a hook echo on the weather radar. In fact, one of the big meteorological breakthroughs in the 1950s was when we tried out WWII surplus radars and found that severe convection, and often tornadoes, were associated with hook echos (see...
It's a Miracle: Normal Weather Returns
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Check out my KPLU podcast on the weekend weather: here. It is hard to remember such an extended period in March where snow was falling somewhere over the lowlands of western Washington and Oregon. Even yesterday, the persistent snow plagued our region, with the area south of Portland and extending down to Eugene not only getting...
GOES-West Weather Satellite Fails
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Update: It appears that the problem has been identified and can be fixed. Satellite might be back online by Friday.Yesterday the National Weather Service GOES-West (GOES-15) geostationary weather satellite failed. In a geostationary orbit that allows it to stay above the same location in time, GOES-W is positioned over the equator...
A New View of Seasonal Changes
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Doesn't it seem like the warmth of spring and the comfort of summer takes an eternity to occur here in the Northwest? (and astronomically, today is the first day of spring by the way). In this blog, I am going to show you something that is in no meteorological textbook--at least none I know of: maps of temperatures...
The U.S. Has Fallen Behind in Numerical Weather Prediction: Part I
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Part II found here.It's a national embarrassment. It has resulted in large unnecessary costs for the U.S. economy and needless endangerment of our citizens. And it shouldn't be occurring.What am I talking about? The third rate status of numerical weather prediction in the U.S. It is a huge story, an important story,...
The Revenge of La Nina
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Forecast Update and More on La Nina on KPLU at 9 AM Friday or online.Last winter we were securely in La Nina conditions and the region experienced a miserable, cold, wet spring that lasted into mid summer. Horror to all soccer and Little League parents.This winter we have also been in a La Nina and since early February we have been...
