Wetand News

Yes, it is true.   Here in the Northwest, west of the Cascade crest, we have the longest meteorological springs in the nation. Something you can brag about if you live in or near Vancouver, CA, Seattle, and Portland. And in my new podcast I explain why. Astronomical and meteorological springs are not the same.  The former is always three months from March 20/21 to June 20/21.   But meteorological spring, which I define as the period in which the average high temperatures range from 50 to 70F, varies wildly. Seattle has a very long spring.  Chicago and New York have half the amount! And in the podcast I provide guidance where western Washngton and Oregon residents can go to escape the endless spring with a short drive. Here is my podcast: Click the play button to listen or use your favorite streaming service (see below) You can stream my podcast from your favorite services:   Listen on Apple Podcasts   Listen on Spotify Podcasts   Listen on Google Podcasts

 As I mentioned in an earlier blog, NOAA is working with a young company, Saildrone, to test the capabilities of autonomous sailboats (saildrones) for gathering weather and ocean data remotely. Of particular interest is whether such craft can survive the wave and wind conditions near tropical storms and hurricanes.    A hardened saildrone with a stubby sail is now directly off the Washington coast (see map and picture below) in the hope of experiencing strong storms. And it is about to get a big test. A vigorous spring Pacific cyclone is offshore and approaching our region, with the visible satellite image showing the swirl of clouds around the low center. The forecast for sea level pressure and winds (dark blue indicates gusts of 50 knots and more) at 11 PM tonight shows a decent storm for March and very windy conditions offshore.  With a large ocean fetch and a slow-moving low center, substantial waves are possible. The threat will increase overnight: let me show you some fancy graph

I have gotten quite a few emails asking about a strange radar echo off the Washington Coast, including a few claiming a secret military operation and one suggesting an alien presence. Here is an example, showing the Langley Hill radar on March 15th at 0503 UTC (10:03 PM March 14th PDT).  The is one of the lowest scan angles:  0.5 degrees.  Radars are tilted at various angles in the vertical and scan around in direction (azimuth).  You see the echo off of Hoquiam ?  That is what I am talking about...and here is an expanded version Two hours later...still there.  Very strange.  A meteorological feature would not do that. When the radar is scanned at a higher angle (1.3 degrees), the echo goes away.  Bizarre! But at the lowest possible scan angle  (.176 degrees), the echo gets stronger! Pesky aliens again or more secret flights from Whidbey?   I wish, it was so exotic. In reality, the radar beam is hitting the ocean and reflecting/scattering back to the radar antenna. When the radar signa

I have gotten a number of emails from folks asking about the lack of U.S. buoy data during the past several days.   They are right...something has happened.  A broken pipe and flooding has closed down a key NOAA data facility in Silver Spring, Maryland, and there is no estimate of when this data source will become available.   And, in fact, other important data sources are also being affected, such as the coastal marine sites (CMAN) and even some airport locations. The NOAA National Data Buoy Center page notes the situation: Buoy data over the oceans is a very important weather data source, in support of both numerical weather prediction and marine activities.  There are, in fact, two main types of ocean buoys:  fixed or moored buoys, which possess a relatively wide range of weather/ocean observations, and drifting buoys that move around the ocean freely (see pictures below). Fixed buoys: Drifting buoy: To give you an idea of the distribution and number of the buoy data, here is an

Western Washington and Oregon have fewer and weaker thunderstorms than most parts of the country. The map of annual thunderstorm frequency tells the story (see below), with the southeast enjoying more than 80 boomers per hear, while most of the Northwest expreiences less than 10.    But why? All is revealed in my podcast.  And this podcast also provides the weekend weather forecast, with Saturday being sunny and mild and a Pacific front making landfall on Sunday. You can listen to my podcast below or on your smartphone using your favorite podcast service. Here is my podcast: Click the play button to listen or use your favorite streaming service (see below) You can stream my podcast from your favorite services:   Listen on Apple Podcasts   Listen on Spotify Podcasts   Listen on Google Podcasts

Thunderstorms in western Washington are a wimpy lot.   Infrequent and weak, they rarely get above 15,000 ft, unlike their vigorous cousins over the central and eastern U.S.    The reason for their weakness?  Mainly the cool water of the eastern Pacific, which lessens the warmth at low levels and the water vapor content available in our region compared to the thunderstorms over the eastern half of the nation. When thunderstorms are vigorous and strong they can rise high enough to reach the stratosphere , where warming conditions and dry air act as a barrier to thunderstorms' upward penetration.   And when they hit this barrier, typically 25,000 to 35,000 feet above the surface, the thunderstorm clouds tend to spread out in what is known as the anvil (see pictures below).  From the first picture, you can see why it is called an anvil, a familiar item of the blacksmith's trade. Now we rarely see anvils in western Washington, so you can imagine my delight when I walked outside ye

  It is not well known that the founders of the American republic were avid amateur meteorologists, with many of them taking weather observations daily.  George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and others were intrigued about the meteorology and climate of the new nation and deeply curious about the natural world. By the time of the American revolution, relatively decent thermometers, barometers, and rain gauges were available, and taking weather observations was all the rage. Take Thomas Jefferson, our third President and the primary author of the Declaration of Independence.   He started taking observations in Monticello, VA in the early 1770s, doing so twice a day....once at dawn and again at 4 PM. On his way to Philadelphia in 1776, he picked up a thermometer and took FOUR observations on July 4, 1776.    Amazingly, the high temperature that day was 76F!   Check out his observation summary of 1776 below.  A few days after signing the Declaration, he went out and bou