The Northwest has a number of "banana belt" regions--locations that get amazing warmth during a few periods of the winter. One I have talked about...the Brookings area, where 70s and 80s can occur anytime of the year with downslope flow off the Siskiyous. But there is another....the towns downwind of the Blue Mountains of NE Oregon...towns such as Walla Walla.
This morning at daybreak Whitman College reported temperatures as high as 61F and other nearby locations were close. Here is the proof:
Lets back up a bit and view the temperatures around region at 7 AM (below, click on maps to enlarge)
58F in Walla Walla (ALW is the ID) and Pendleton (PDT) with forties and thirties in most of the rest of eastern WA. And notice the winds....they are southerly at the warm locations...this will be important.How about a blow up map of the Walla Walla region at 7 AM? Here it is:
There is clearly a cluster of warmth...and those are associated with southerly flow.What is going on here? Why does the area north of the Blue Mountains become a hot spot sometime?
We start with relatively warm air aloft ahead of an approaching frontal system (rain will spread southward over western Washington during the afternoon with this front). Also ahead of the front is increasing southerly flow. Such flow heads downslope on the north side of the Blue Mountains and the air is compressed and warmed as it descends. Like your bicycle pump! Here is the upper air data from Boise (upstream of the Blues)...you can see strong southeasterly flow in the lower atmosphere.
And here is a map of the terrain and my artist rendition of the winds (I am no artist!)
Our high resolution models can capture this feature--here is the forecast surface temperature for 7 AM. See the darker yellows on the Oregon/WA border near Walla Walla?
And temps should really warm during the day....here is the prediction for 1 PM. Time to head to SE Washington and NE Oregon for summer in February!
So cancel your trip to LA and head to Walla Walla. The wines are better there and Whitman College--the heat wave center---is fun to tour. And then there are the wind turbines to watch...
And tomorrow is looking pretty decent for most of the area--the front moves through tonight leaving some showers tomorrow, but mostly dry. And thankfully the mountains will get a bit of fresh snow at higher elevations. They need it.
Finally, thanks to all of you that have contacted your legislators about HB 1891, which would delay adoption of the Common Core math standards. I hope Representative Santos will allow a hearing on this bill. (If you haven't contacted your legislator and Rep Santos, please consider doing so...see my past blog for info). It is crazy that our state would thrown away our excellent new math standards for standards that have never been used or tested anywhere. Yes, never. And spend tens of millions of dollars to do so. Completely irrational, but unfortunately that is why we have gotten into the education mess we are right now. Rational decision making seems to be an issue in the education community, which acts without facts too many times.
