Archive for 'Uncategorized'
The Wettest Wet Season
Over the course of a “normal” year, 37.49 inches of rain falls in Seattle (Sea-Tac). Since the first of this January, we’ve received 18.49 inches. That’s an impressive 150 percent of where we’re supposed to be on this date, the final day of March. But if you go back to the start of […]
[More]Posted: March 31st, 2016 under Uncategorized.
Relentless Rain
Last Monday forecast discussions started using the old, reliable word “active” to describe the then developing pattern. When we see that term it usually means that the jet stream is in our hemispheric vicinity and it will deliver us a series of systems. Also last Monday medium-range forecast models suggested that an atmospheric […]
[More]Posted: December 9th, 2015 under Uncategorized.
All Treat, No Trick
We keep calling atmospheric rivers doubled-edged swords for their simultaneous abilities to replenish water supplies and flood cities. Sometimes, when mountain reservoirs are already full, they’re completely unwanted. But seldom are they considered win-wins. This weekend’s storm, though, was more or less all treat, and no trick. It’ll take a few days […]
[More]Posted: November 2nd, 2015 under Uncategorized.
Halloween Atmospheric River Forecast
Weekend rainfall totals reached a half-inch over the City to just over an inch on the Central Cascades. That’s more rain than was predicted by medium-range models most of last week, but it was exactly what was expected 24-hours prior. It was all welcome in SPU’s watersheds, of course, and very few drainage […]
[More]Posted: October 26th, 2015 under Uncategorized.
On Seattle’s Rainiest Neighborhoods
As a participant in Take Winter By Storm, an organization dedicated to preparing Western Washington for winter weather, Seattle Public Utilities recently featured its rain gauge network and some interesting information it has revealed: Rainier Beach is the wettest neighborhood in Seattle. Southeast Seattle is wetter than all other areas primarily due to […]
[More]Posted: October 14th, 2015 under Uncategorized.
September Summary and Drought Update
Seattle’s streak of warmer-than-normal months is about to come to an end. The last time we experienced a cooler-than-normal month was February 2014. Impressive as that 18-month warm streak may be, more notable is the fact that 6 out of the past 12 months broke all-time monthly average temperature records, and one month […]
[More]Posted: September 28th, 2015 under Uncategorized.
August Review
Through the first week-and-a-half of last month it was looking like we were going to endure our third warmest-ever month in a row. In fact, day 1 hit 92 degrees, which tied the daily record and extended 2015’s daily occurrence record to 12 days. By August’s ides, though, the pattern really changed, and […]
[More]Posted: September 4th, 2015 under Uncategorized.
Surprise Thunder
A small, unexpected disturbance rippled through the region yesterday and reacquainted parts of Seattle, albeit very briefly, with an old friend: rain. While colorful and noisy, the event caused only isolated street flooding and provided very little, if any, drought relief. Thunderstorms first appeared on the radar near Tacoma at around 10:00 […]
[More]Posted: August 13th, 2015 under Uncategorized.
Seattle’s Warmest Month Ever
After the first five days of the month, all of which in the 90s, it became clear early that July would finish warmer than normal. Given that the prior sixteen months had also been warmer than normal, and that forecasts had been calling for continued warmth, we shouldn’t have been surprised. But […]
[More]Posted: August 5th, 2015 under Uncategorized.
June Boon
Generations of Seattle-area residents have been acclimatized to expect a persistently warm and dry summer that begins after Independence Day. This year is different: cases could be made that the season began June 4 or even May 15. Those dates represent our last two bouts of solid onshore flow, also known at this […]
[More]Posted: July 2nd, 2015 under Uncategorized.