Meteorological spring is defined as the three-month period between March 1st and May 31st (MAM). Seattle’s 2015 MAM ended up being warmer than normal and drier than normal.   At 53.7º, Seatac’s three-month average temperature was 2.7º greater than the 30-year normal. Despite the warmth, not a single daily maximum temperature record was […]

    Another strong cold front is working its way across the area and associated rainfall is expected to be briefly intense, thunderous and and even partly frozen (lowland soft hail and mountain snow).   The front showed up nicely on the coastal radar (note the ribbon-like structure in the above image) and should pass […]

    It’s been a few years since we’ve seen that much rain around here. Between the time that the first wave of the atmospheric river hit late Friday night, until the final bands of showers exited early Monday morning, over 3 inches fell across parts of the City.   That’s the most any single […]

    The ridge of high pressure that has been keeping us warm and dry this winter has started to move. The regime, which for months has been blocking most storms, will position itself far enough out over the Pacific to allow storms to circulate over the top and affect us from the northwest. Reminiscent […]

      A major atmospheric river (AR) is about to hit the west coast. It’s expected to hit Northern California most directly, but waves will periodically affect the Northwest tonight all the way through Tuesday, according to the latest model forecasts. Seattle’s National Weather Service office has thus far only issued a Hydrologic Outlook […]

    We’ve got a wet week ahead of us. The ridge of high pressure that has been dominating our weather, keeping us relatively dry all season, was knocked down over the weekend by a large low pressure system offshore. Unfortunately for mountain snowpack, freezing levels are expected to remain relatively high through the weekend. […]

    “There are these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says “Morning, boys. How’s the water?” And the two young fish swim on for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and […]

  The second of three King Tide rounds arrives tomorrow morning. Predicted water levels will be at least a foot higher than average daily high tides (MHHW) each day through Monday. As always, or at least always has been, predicted water levels will be of only limited concern absent strong winds or low pressure, and […]

    This winter’s dominant weather pattern will persist this week and beyond, keeping us mostly dry and relatively warm. Said pattern is defined by upper level high pressure in the vicinity of the Gulf of Alaska (see the animated red blob above indicating higher than normal pressure).   As we saw this weekend, in […]

    The World Economic Forum recently released its Global Risks 2015 report and once again water crises and climate change are in the top 5 list global risks in terms of impacts, with water crises #1 and failure of climate change adaptation #5. This is the tenth year the WEF has issued a global […]