Wetand News

 This past March brought record cold to a vast swath of the U.S., including the West Coast and the northern Plains.   Here in Washington State, the frigid conditions even continued into April, with snow showers falling to sea-level and serious snow on some of the hilltops near Seattle (see the snowfall at 1100 ft in Bellevue on Sunday night).  April? April 2. Bellevue, Washington at 1100 ft. Courtesy Dr. Peter Benda Satellites can observe atmospheric temperatures from space.   The lower-atmosphere temperatures for March from such satellite (see below) indicate that the coldest temperature anomalies (differences from normal) on the planet occurred in a swath from the West Coast to the upper plains. Portions of eastern Oregon had had their coldest March in history, as shown by the March temperatures at Burns, Oregon over the past 50 years.   I mean no year was even close to March 2023.  A NOAA temperature analysis that presents the differences from normal of temperatures around 10,000 ft

Spring starts on March 20 or 21st, everyone knows that! But that is the beginning of astronomical spring , also known as the vernal equinox --the day when the sun crosses the equator and when daylight lasts roughly twelve hours everywhere on the planet. But astronomical spring is not the same as meteorological spring, and I would suggest that meteorological spring arrives quite early in the Northwest, generally during the third week of February.   Well before astronomical spring begins.  Furthermore, meteorological spring comes much later in the central and eastern portions of the country, where cold and snow can last well into March. But why is this so? Before I get into that, let me describe  my definition of meteorological spring .   I would suggest that meteorological spring occurs when: 1.  The chances of a major cold wave declines profoundly. 2.  The frequency of major winter storms (midlatitude cyclones) plummets and the chance of a big storm is very low. 3.  Th

During the past week, several Seattle Times articles have been headlining that western Washington is experiencing a "false spring." Seattle Near Noon Today The Times further states that "  The Seattle area is known for what some locals call “false spring,” which occurs every year sometime in February or March. The weather is so lovely we mistakenly think winter is over. And then it starts to rain again." Furthermore, some environmental groups are warning that false spring is threatening wildlife and that false springs are the result of climate change (global warming). So for those of you worried about the "false spring" threat , let me note that Seattle is NOT known for false springs, that we have some of the longest springs in the nation, and there is NO evidence that a warming planet is producing more "false spring" warm-ups in our region. Spring 101 Everyone knows that astronomical spring runs from roughly March 21-June 21st.   But meteorolog