The Darkest Late May Day in Twenty Years
Saturday, for many reasons, was an extremely dark day here in Seattle.
The view at 1 PM Saturday, near solar noon, was ominous and forbidding.
Meteorologically, it was the darkest day during the last week of May in twenty years, according to Mark Albright, a research scientist at the UW and past Washington State climatologist.
The solar radiation at the top of the Atmospheric Sciences Building at the UW was extraordinarily low, only reaching 2.82 megajoules per square meter (mega is million and joule is a unit of energy). The day before it was almost 27...nearly ten times more!
A plot of the daily solar radiation from the wonderful WSU AgWeather site showed that Saturday had the lowest solar radiation in Seattle since early March, when the day wass much shorter and sun much weaker.
The reason for the low solar radiation? The key one was the extremely deep and persistent clouds that hung over us the entire day, something evident in the visible satellite image at 1 PM:
May turned out to be substantially wetter than normal in Seattle, with 3.12 inches in the rain gauge, 1.18 inches higher than normal (1.94 inches). Compare that to last May (.62 inches). In fact, May was wetter than normal in much of the state, particularly the eastern portions and the western slopes of the Cascades (see below).
The wet May will aid in staving off wildfires this summer. Temperatures average a few degrees above normal for the month.
Saturday was, of course, a dark day for Seattle in other ways, as documented by the Seattle PanoCam's image at 4:30 PM, with smoke from burning cars spreading across downtown. An extremely sad image for those who care for this city, and a warning of what can happen when those with violence and malice in their hearts are not countered by forces of reason and good will.
The view at 1 PM Saturday, near solar noon, was ominous and forbidding.
Meteorologically, it was the darkest day during the last week of May in twenty years, according to Mark Albright, a research scientist at the UW and past Washington State climatologist.
The solar radiation at the top of the Atmospheric Sciences Building at the UW was extraordinarily low, only reaching 2.82 megajoules per square meter (mega is million and joule is a unit of energy). The day before it was almost 27...nearly ten times more!
A plot of the daily solar radiation from the wonderful WSU AgWeather site showed that Saturday had the lowest solar radiation in Seattle since early March, when the day wass much shorter and sun much weaker.
The reason for the low solar radiation? The key one was the extremely deep and persistent clouds that hung over us the entire day, something evident in the visible satellite image at 1 PM:
May turned out to be substantially wetter than normal in Seattle, with 3.12 inches in the rain gauge, 1.18 inches higher than normal (1.94 inches). Compare that to last May (.62 inches). In fact, May was wetter than normal in much of the state, particularly the eastern portions and the western slopes of the Cascades (see below).
The wet May will aid in staving off wildfires this summer. Temperatures average a few degrees above normal for the month.
Saturday was, of course, a dark day for Seattle in other ways, as documented by the Seattle PanoCam's image at 4:30 PM, with smoke from burning cars spreading across downtown. An extremely sad image for those who care for this city, and a warning of what can happen when those with violence and malice in their hearts are not countered by forces of reason and good will.
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