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 […]

    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 […]

    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 […]

    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 […]

    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 […]

    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 […]

    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 […]

    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 […]

    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 […]

    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 […]