Wetand News

Did you ever wonder why freezing on the Fahrenheit scale is at 32? Why that number?  Why not 0 or 50? The answer to the question will be answered in my podcast! (see below for details) And before the talk about temperature, I provide the forecast, and it is a snowy one for our mountains. Today, a front will be moving through (see satellite photo below), behind which there is cool, unstable air. This cool, unstable air, forced to rise on the local mountains, will produce heavy snow in the Cascades, with several feet at higher elevations.  Good for skiers, good for weather resources, but potentially causing dangerous conditions in the passes.  _________ Announcement.  I will be having a special online session for my  Patreon supporters  on Saturday at 10 AM. __________ To listen to my podcast, use the link below or access it through your favorite podcast service. Some major podcast servers:     Like the podcast? Support on Patreon 

Did you notice how dry the air was yesterday over large portions of western Washington?   Strangely enough, you can blame a huge storm over the Pacific Ocea! To show you what was going on, below is a plot of the minimum relative humidities west of the Cascades on Tuesday.  In some locations, relative humidity dropped to under 20%! A relative humidity forecast for 2 PM Tuesday predicted very low values (below 20%, brown colors) in western Washington and southwest BC.   Low values over eastern WA as well. But why? Yesterday's visible satellite image around 2 PM was impressive, with a deep low-pressure area in the center of the swirl and an extensive band of frontal cloud extending around the low to northern Oregon and then south into central California. Associated with this storm, there was a strong low-level wind circulation.   Below are the forecast winds and heights (like pressure) at roughly 5000 ft (850 hPa).  You can see the intense low center off the CA/OR border.  Wow.     No

At the University of Washington and many other academic institutions, applicants for faculty positions must complete a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) statement that describes their past actions in support of DEI and how they will foster DEI if appointed.  In addition, these required statements generally demand that the applicant express support or commitment to DEI principles. As will be shown below, such DEI statements are of questionable legality, suppress viewpoint diversity, and politicize academic institutions.   They are destructive to the foundational values of academia, create a monoculture of opinion, act as a litmus test of political belief, and often hurt the groups they are meant to support. DEI Represents the Politicization of the Academy Although the terms diversity, equity, and inclusion superficially appear to be general and innocuous, the working definitions used in most universities are highly partisan and politicized.  Diversity generally refers to encouragi

On Monday and Tuesday, a powerful Pacific cyclone will intensify off the northern California/southern Oregon coasts.   A storm that would be notable in mid-winter, but very unusual in late March. Below is the forecast sea level pressure chart for 2 AM Tuesday morning.  Also shown are the near-surface wind barbs and low-level temperature (shading).   Just wow.   A very deep low-pressure center (985 hPa) with a huge gradient of sea level pressure, which means strong winds .  It almost looks like it has an inner eye! A simulated cloud field for nearly the same time is downright scary (see below).  As you might suspect, the low center is in the middle of the swirling cloud bands.  Looks like something out of a science-fiction movie. With such strong pressure gradients (pressure differences over distance), you can expect powerful low-level winds.   Below are the predicted wind gusts for the same time as the pressure analysis above.   A ring of strong winds surrounds the low, with the most p

 No, there won't be accumulating snow near sea level, but don't be surprised if you see a few flakes west of the Cascade crest on Friday, The visible satellite image this morning (below) shows a strong spring-time front about to make landfall on the coast, with a swirl of clouds associated with a low-pressure area evident offshore.  To the west, you can see the mottled, white and dark cloud areas associated with great instability, instability caused by cold air passing over warm water.    That air is our future. This area of cold air is coming to us all the way from Alaska, as shown by a wider-area satellite image.  Call it the Aleutian Express. The trouble for low-elevation snow lovers is that this maritime air (called a marine polar, MP, air mass) is generally too warm for any lowland snow.   But it is the perfect pattern for heavy snow in the Cascades. Below is the forecast SNOWFALL total through 11 PM Friday. Some very light snow south of Tacoma, with more over southwest Wa

Today a record-breaking intense midlatitude cyclone has hit California--the strongest on record this late in the season.   Take a look at the visible satellite image around 5 PM (below).  An intense low center is at the center of the cloud swirl near San Francisco.  While western WA and OR were high and dry! At San Francisco, the pressure fell to 985 hPa, the lowest pressure ever observed at that location in March.  The weather observations at 4 PM showed the circulation of winds around the low, with gusts at that time reaching 46 mph at the airport.     l A plane from Seattle to Monterey even had to abort its landing this afternoon due to large low-level wind shear. Moderate to severe turbulence was observed over much of California (see below, red is severe, yellow moderate).  Not a good day to fly. The National Weather Service radars along the CA coast revealed intense small-scale circulations embedded in the larger-scale low off the coast (see below).  Just stunning. Lowland Snow in

My new podcast (see below to access), reviews the major changes occurring in the tropics and what they imply for our future weather. Our long-lived (3-year) La Nina is over, with the sea surface temperatures in the Nino3.4 area now nearly exactly normal (see below) The Pacific sea surface temperatures went from about 1C cooler than normal in December to near normal today The latest NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) forecast is for the probability of El Nino conditions to be over 50% by next fall. As described in the podcast, the typical atmospheric configuration with El Nino is a low-pressure area over the Gulf of Mexico, warmer than normal conditions over the Northwest, and wetter than normal conditions over southern and central California (see below).  But as demonstrated this year, long-term prediction has substantial uncertainties, with the guidance based on El Nino/La Nina more like weighting the atmospheric dice. To listen to my podcast, use the link below or access it through

 This is the season for northward bird migration and the weather is now perfect for northward flight. As a result, there is a massive northward movement of birds occurring and the weather radars are lighting up with birds each night. As I noted in previous blogs, many birds prefer to fly at night, so let me show you the regional radar imagery over the past 24 h. 5 PM yesterday (Thursday) there was nothing At 2 AM, bird returns were everywhere with radar coverage.  Notice our birdy friends don't like to fly offshore.    You can also see where we lack low-level radar coverage, like the central and southern Oregon coast and eastern Oregon.  Oregon bird watchers need to complain! This morning at 8 AM, the birds are gone. I rarely show Dopper radar imagery (which shows winds towards or away from the radar), but here is last night's image from the Langley Hill radar in Hoquiam (the radar is in the center of the circles).  Green indicates the targets (birds) are approaching the radar,