Wetand News

Hurricane Laura, one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the central Gulf coast in years, is now history, but there are important lessons for us in the Northwest. The death toll now stands at 16.  But it is important to note that more than half the deaths were not due to storm surge or direct hurricane damage, but due to improper use of generators , leading to carbon monoxide poisoning. Several of the other deaths were from trees falling on homes, killing those inside. Nearly all of these storm-related deaths did not have to happen, and the lessons of Laura are important here in the Northwest, which is often hit by Pacific cyclones rivaling the hurricanes that strike the southeast U.S. style="color: #888888;">here . _____

I take a look at the current smoke situation and note the chance of rain over the northern portions of Washington State  late on Sunday and Monday.  A benign, near-normal situation.  If you are concerned about smoke, avoid eastern Oregon this weekend.  Cascades should be fine. style="color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;">here . _____

Last night, Hurricane Laura made landfall on the southwestern coast of Louisiana, bring heavy rain (6-8 inches),  strong winds (gusting to 132 mph at one location), and a coastal storm surge (roughly 10 feet at the most vulnerable locations). The NWS Lake Charles radar image at midnight central time showed a well defined eye as the storm was making landfall. style="color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;">here . _____

California is burning and smoke has covered the northern half of the state and is spreading across the U.S.   Most of the fires were started by a huge "lightning siege" that started on August 15th.  How unusual was this massive lightning event?  That question will be answered below. style="color: #888888;">here . _____

Folks frequently send me photos of clouds and other features for explanation.  But yesterday, I was sent the absolutely strangest picture ever.  A picture so weird that normally I would have passed it off as a Photoshop confection. But I had to take this one seriously , since it came from one of the most well-known scientists in our state, Dr. Ronald Thom, the President of the Washington State Academy of Sciences, of which I am a member.  He had never seen anything like it...and jokingly suggested it might be some kind of UFO. Here is one of the pictures he sent, near a beach in Sequim, looking towards the northeast in the direction of the Strait of Juan de Fuca (see map of location in the map below, which also shows the direction of the picture).  The picture was taken around 6 PM Friday.  It looks like a phantom fog ship, and in fact it was moving to right. Dr. Thom took a video of the apparition, which you can view below. So the question, is this real or some othe

My weather discussion is found below....check out the video.  Today I talk about Olympic rainshows, smoke over California, high humidity, and look out at the forecast for the next week!

Tonight there is an amazing plume of moisture over us....in fact, a record for the date and one of the highest on record. Perhaps you can tell--it is very moist and sticky out there. The air seems thick and a bit oppressive. You can see the plume of moisture on a weather satellite image that shows moisture content in the upper troposphere (roughly 18,000 to 35, 000 ft)--see below.   See the white, light gray plume passing over western Washington from the southwest?   That's the feature of interest. style="color: #888888; text-decoration-line: none;">here .

Note:  My weekly online weather discussion will come out at 9 AM Friday.  And I am working on starting a weekly weather podcast.  On this podcast I won't be as constrained as I was on KNKX, where certain topics (e.g., climate) were discouraged by the management. _________________________________________________ During the last few days, hundreds of fires have been ignited by an extraordinarily unusual barrage of thousands of lightning strikes over the western U.S. Major fires are burning all over California and dense smoke has spread across the region (see below).  The city of Vacaville is being engulfed in flames and air quality is rapidly degrading. style="color: #888888; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; text-decoration-line: none;">here . _____

The weather during the past 24-h has been  extreme in several ways (some of which I will explain below), but so has been the raw beauty of the atmosphere around us. Last night, I went with my wife and a friend to cool off at Richmond Beach Park and the sunset was extraordinary (see below).  The sky around the Olympics was on fire, with rays of orange and red extending overhead.   The reason for such extreme colors?  The red/orange light of sunset playing within the clouds and rain from the approaching line of showers/thundershowers. style="color: #888888; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif; text-decoration-line: none;">here . I would like to thank all of you for your support. Together we will protect freedom of speech and respect for diversity of viewpoints. ______________________________

Today was a day of amazing contrasts, with record high temperatures followed by thunderstorms and light rain. style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "times new roman", times, freeserif, serif;">here . I would like to thank all of you for your support. Together we will protect freedom of speech and respect for diversity of viewpoints. ______________________________

My blog on KNKX is found  style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Times New Roman", Times, FreeSerif, serif; text-decoration-line: none;">here . I would like to thank all of you for your support. Together we will protect freedom of speech and respect for diversity of viewpoints. ______________________________ Every resident of Puget Sound has a powerful air conditioner at hand and that AC turned on today.  An AC that limits the lengths of our heat waves and draws in cool air while across Puget Sound while Portland and the Willamette Valley are sweltering. You may have noticed the switch being turned on today, with brisk winds from the north moderating the heat.  This AC occurs because of the particular terrain of our region and how heat waves develop here. You can see the special AC in action in the next figure, which shows the surface air temperatures and winds at 2 PM.  90s in Portland and the Willamette Valley (pink colors), but

My blog on KNKX is found >here . I would like to thank all of you for your support. Together we will protect freedom of speech and respect for diversity of viewpoints. ______________________________________ Temperatures are going to zoom into the 90s on Sunday and I discuss the weather situation below. A major ridge will develop over the western U.S. (see forecast upper-level map for 5  PM Sunday).  Such a ridge is associated with sinking, warm air and very dry conditions. Easterly flow will develop over the Cascades, bring enhanced warming on the western slopes and a thermal trough of heat-driven low pressure will move northward out of California.  The surface weather map predicted for 8 PM Saturday illustrates the very warm pattern.   Wow.  Very warm temperatures over Oregon, with the Willamette Valley getting over 100F.  You can see the thermal low extending into SW Washington. But it will be Sunday that will be the warmest day over Puget Sound, followed by cooli

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

Note:  the next blog will be entitled:  Kristalnacht, Brownshirts, and the KNKX Firing.  I have a lot to say, including information that is not well known.  I should also note my blog on the Seattle's violent outbreaks was restored to its original form. __________________________________ There are a lot wild aspects of our sea surface temperatures during the summer:  unexpected jumps, rapid declines, and huge changes in relatively short distances.  Take a look at the sea surface temperatures today (see below, blue is cold, red is warm).  Huge contrasts, with MUCH colder temperatures near the coast, particularly from central Oregon to central CA.    Why so cold?   Because of upwelling of cold water from below.   Such upwelling occurs preferentially near the coast and is controlled by the surface winds.  Strong northerly flow increases upwelling and that is usually associated with high pressure offshore, which is the predominant pattern during summer.  Want to see?  Below i

Note:  I will be providing my viewpoints on the KNKX situation, Cancel Culture, Seattle Police defunding and other matters in future blogs this week.   Note2:  I am teaching atmospheric sciences 101 online this fall quarter and anyone can sign up!  This class is a good introduction to weather, including weather observations and forecasting.   I give a weather discussion every day. You can sign up as a non-matriculated student.   And if you are over 60, you can get the very, very inexpensive rate given to Access students.  I am really excited about serving a larger community with this class ___________________________________________ There comes a point during mid-summer when the veil of uncertainty lifts regarding the nature of the upcoming winter season and we are at that point now. The key tool for seasonal forecasting in our region is the correlation between El Nino (warmer than normal water in the tropical Pacific) and La Nina (the opposite) and the large-scale weather circ