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 .