Record Breaking Precipitation on the Driest Day of the Year
Updated: 2024-07-30 04:28:00
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 29, 2024 Record Breaking Precipitation on the Driest Day of the Year As noted in an earlier blog , the end of July and first week of August is typically the driest period of the year . nbsp The time for outdoor . weddings And for Seattle , today is historically the driest day of the . year Going against climatology , a relatively wet weather system moved in today and the wetness is not over , as shown by the NWS radar imagery around 8 PM Monday see below At this time , some healthy rainbands were moving in from the . northwest The air feels sticky with high dewpoints into the lower 60s resulting from rain falling into relatively warm . air The precipitation totals
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 27, 2024 The Wettest Driest Day in Seattle History July 29th is climatologically the driest day of the year in . Seattle On this July 29th Monday an unusually wet system is predicted to move into the central and western portions of Western . Washington The result The wettest day on record for the climatological driest day of the year at Seattle Tacoma Airport . nbsp You will tell your grandchildren about this . day Consider the historically record-breaking wet days at SeaTac on July 29th see below The wettest day was 0.17 inches in 1993. The NOAA NWS ensemble system is going for about 0.25 inches on Monday , although there is some variability in the . forecast The
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 25, 2024 Rain is Coming to the Northwest During the Driest Time of the Year Every meteorologist knows that climatology only provides typical or average conditions and that natural atmospheric variability can provide some major excursions from normal . conditions That will certainly be true next . week Climatologically , the last week of July is the driest of the year in western Washington see plot at SeaTac below Best time of the year to plan a barbecue or an outdoor . wedding But this year , the last week of July will bring rain . and even significant rain in some . locations Let me show . you The weekend will be generally dry , with a wet system moving in Sunday
Over the past few weeks, fires have erupted and spewed high concentrations of smoke over western Canada and the United States. To exacerbate the situation, more fires initiated recently in the western U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Forecast Offices … Continue reading →
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 20, 2024 Will this be the driest July on record for the region Several folks have asked me whether we will break the record for the driest July in history . nbsp Several locations , including SeaTac Airport , have had no precipitation this month , and to put it bluntly , little is predicted for many locations . nbsp First , how much has fallen so far For western Washington , some locations have received a bit , such as the Cascades from some thunderstorms last week and along the . coast Eastern Washington has had less , most of it from a few showers from hit-and-miss thunderstorms last . week Tomorrow , there could be some very light precipitation across the western
Another summer and another round of wildfires and smoke that inundate the Canadian provinces and territories. From 19-21Z, 17 July 2024, VIIRS GeoColor observed the smoke and fires extending from British Columbia to Hudson Bay. A daytime animation of VIIRS … Continue reading →
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 19, 2024 The Upcoming Cooling over the Northwest We have been in a persistent pattern of above-normal temperatures without major heatwaves for the past week . nbsp But after a short warming today and tomorrow , a cool-down to normal or even below-normal temperatures is in store for the region . nbsp A week without significant thunderstorm activity , but with coastal . drizzle To understand what will happen , consider the forecast upper-level maps for the next week . nbsp But not just any maps . nbsp Let me show you the average of many forecasts . an ensemble of predictions Why Because an average of a diverse collection of forecasts generally has more skill than any
: : Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 15, 2024 Fog and Smoke : An Intimate Relationship in the Northwest One of the oddities of Northwest meteorology is that westside fog low clouds and eastside smoke are often directly related . nbsp Yesterday was a good example . nbsp To illustrate , consider a series of visible satellite images from yesterday and this morning . nbsp Yesterday morning at 9:45 AM there was lots of low clouds along the Washington coast and just a hint of smoke from the Pioneer Fire on northern Lake . Chelan But by 7:45 PM yesterday evening , the smoke from the Pioneer fire had exploded , with the plume heading eastward . nbsp Clearly , strong westerly from the west winds were .
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 12, 2024 The Weather Regimes of Summer Weather patterns tend to get stuck for extended periods and we have certainly seen such persistent conditions this summer . nbsp Weather patterns can be self-reinforcing and thus stay in position for many days or weeks . nbsp And oceanic forcing , such as associated with El Nino and La Nina , can cause weather patterns to lock Consider the temperature situation at SeaTac Airport from May 1 to yesterday below The blue bars show the observed highs and lows , brown shading shows the climatological or typical ranges , red shows the record highs and blue the record . lows The middle of May through the end of June was associated with
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 10, 2024 The Cooling Has Begun The differences in temperature between noon today Wednesday and yesterday are quite large west of the Cascade crest see plot below Some locations are 15-20F cooler , particularly across southwest Washington and NW . Oregon The Columbia Basin temperatures were relatively . unchanged With cooler air moving in across the coastal region , low-level air pressure is increasing there , producing an enhanced difference in pressure across the . Cascades Such increased pressure differences increase westerly winds winds from the west and we can see the wind strengthening over the eastern slopes of the Cascades . nbsp For example , the wind at
: : Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events July 08, 2024 The Current Northwest Heatwave : Facts Versus Hype We are now in the middle of a heatwave period in which some locations have broken daily temperature records records for a specific day Let me describe what is happening and . why Below are the high temperatures yesterday Sunday , July 7 70s along the coast and over the marine areas of NW Washington . nbsp Lower 90s in Puget Sound , around 100F in Portland , and low 100s over the Columbia . Basin Why so warm We start with being near the time of maximum sun strength and length of day . nbsp Temperatures can warm until 5-6 PM this time of the . year But the real secret is the position of high pressure aloft