Wetand News

It is time for me to speak about my firing from KNKX and I will reveal much that is not known publicly about the station, its leadership, and the events that have occurred. This is a particularly sad task for me, considering that I played an important role in saving the station a few years ago and have worked hard for its success.  This is a long post, so let me give you a quick overview of the key points I will cover : 1.   The leaders of KNKX justified my firing based upon my August 5 th blog post  that criticized violent individuals in downtown Seattle, criticized the City Council, supported Chief Best, and noted some similarities to what happened in Germany in the 1930s. 2.  The leaders of KNKX terminated me the next day without speaking to me before they made the decision.  They also did not discuss the matter with the KNKX Advisory Council. 3.  KNKX put out a statement that was factually untrue and easily can be proven false. 4.  Activist groups have been try

During the past decade there are few things that I am more proud of than the role I played in saving public radio station KNKX. And there are few things that I find more disturbing and disappointing than the failure of the station to fulfill its promise to the community, its declining listenership, and the increasingly partisan tone of its news coverage and station management.  And yes, the fact they ended my weather segment because of the anti-violence stance in one of my blog posts. This blog describes the progressive decline of the station, its embrace of cancel culture, and its rapid loss of listeners.  And I ask your help in persuading station management to change direction. stunning interview this year, he described the "uncomfortable truths" about the racial makeup of the KNKX staff, announcers, and "very white" audience.   There is a term for being uncomfortable about an individual because of their race.  Needless to say, such an attitude is inappropriate f

One reason why research is so much fun is that once in a while you learn something important that is unexpected.  A new and highly significant finding.  I had such a "wow" experience recently regarding the September wildfires that caused so much damage and smoke on the western slopes of the Cascades. Currently, I have a research grant form the National Science Foundation, and smaller grants with the USDA Forest Service and WA DNR, to work on wildfire/weather issues. Recently, our group has completed three papers on the intersection of weather/climate with wildfires:  on the Wine Country Fires of 2017, the Camp Fire of 2019, and Diablo downslope winds of northern CA. I was working on a paper on the meteorology of the great western Oregon/Washington wildfires, when the big Labor Day Oregon wildfire siege occurred.  So naturally my group turned to understand the event. Why did this major event happen?  How did it evolve? Was something unusual going on?  How well was it forecast?

Believe it or Not! On average, we are now past the worst weather of the winter!  Shocking but true.  And in the second segment of my podcast, I tell you why. Take a look at the daily probability of experiencing .25 inches or more  in Seattle (below).  Mid to late November is the time of the year when you have best chance to "enjoy" such a wet day and the probabilities actually drop in December and January. What about a plot of daily extreme rainfall in Seattle?   November has the most with December being relatively more benign (below). There is a reason for this situation and it has to do with the strength and position of the jet stream.  Check my podcast to find  out. And the podcast also includes the forecast for this week, which will include unusually dry, sunny conditions and powerful easterly flow on the western side of the Cascades. Here is my podcast: Click the play button to listen or use your favorite streaming service Or stream my podcast from your favorite services