Washington State Had a Very Low Wildfire Year
Updated: 2024-09-30 17:20:33
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 13, 2024 Washington State Had a Very Low Wildfire Year In contrast to the warnings by certain media outlets and others , this has been a very benign wildfire year for Washington . State Less fires than normal , less area burned than normal , and far less forest area burned than . normal Consider the statistics provided by Washington State Department of Natural Resources , whose area of evaluation only includes DNR lands see their map of wildfires of all sizes this year For these DNR lands , this year has fewest number of wildfires over the past ten years see below well below normal red dotted line Most of the wildfires are very small , many being debris garbage
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 22, 2024 The Strongest Atmospheric River on Record for the Gulf of Alaska The atmospheric river currently over the Gulf of Alaska may be the strongest on record in that . area The latest model runs show extreme values of the key measure of atmospheric river strength , vertically integrated moisture transport IVT which describes how much water vapor is being moved over a period of . time Below is the map of IVT for this morning , with values exceeding 1900. I have personally never seen anything like . it An estimate of the strongest atmospheric river over observed for 1990-2019 by Dr . nbsp Lexi Henny of NASA Goddard suggested this is the strongest atmospheric
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 27, 2024 The Other Hurricane Has Just Hit Our Region There is a lot of coverage in the press about powerful Hurricane Helene hitting the southeast U.S . see visible satellite image below yesterday afternoon The hurricane eye is quite apparent . nbsp But did you know that a massive storm , a Pacific hurricane hit the British Columbia coast at essentially the same time see the satellite picture below from yesterday When Hurricane Helene hit the southeast U.S . maximum wind gusts yesterday reached 99 mph in two locations . nbsp Very dangerous What do you the maximum winds along the British Columbia coast were yesterday as the Pacific storm approached Make sure you
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 03, 2024 The Last Heatwave of the Year After examining a wide variety of forecast models and considering the region's climatology , it appears we will have to endure only one more warm spell for the remainder of the . year And by a warm spell , nbsp I mean an event where western Washington rises into the mid-80s or above and eastern Washington nears . 100F I will start by showing you the forecasts . nbsp At Seattle , the skillful NOAA NWS National Blend of Models NBM prediction system forecasts warming to the mid-80s on Thursday and Friday before cooling over the weekend . nbsp Temperatures cool to below normal upper 60s next week . nbsp The average
: . . Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 26, 2024 The First Strong Pacific Fronts of the Season . Amazingly Good Forecasts of Such Fronts are Now Common . Yesterday , the first strong Pacific front of the season moved off the Pacific . Ocean There are some fascinating subtleties of how Pacific fronts such as this interact with our region's terrain . let me show you The radar image around 8 AM yesterday Wed morning shows precipitation from the front reaching the WA coast and NW WA . nbsp Green indicates light rain , yellow moderate , and red , heavy precipitation . nbsp Umbrella . alert By mid-afternoon , the front was moving through and the winds on the coast had switched from southerly from the
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 11, 2024 The Autumn Transition Nearly every September has a transition to fall-like weather , with no going back . nbsp We are in such a transition right now . nbsp For Washington State , regular rains will return , 80s and 90s will be memories , and the wildfire season will be . over Before I show you the forecast , consider the climatology of this month . nbsp For temperature , September average maximum temperatures at Seattle thin red line goes from the summer-like mid-70s to the mid-60s the vertical red line shows today No more 90s by the end of the month . nbsp . Ever For the probability of measurable precipitation , there is only small upward trend after
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 05, 2024 Superinversion on the Hottest Day for the Rest of the Year An inversion is when temperatures increase with height . nbsp Today a super-inversion exists , with extraordinary warmth . aloft At 6 AM this morning , temperatures are in the lower 50s in the south Sound and upper 50s to around 60F in central Puget Sound see map But looking to the western Cascade slopes , you see some warmer temperatures with some in the low . 70s It was so chilly at local river valleys that fog and low clouds formed in some of : them But now , let me shock . you Right above Puget Sound , just a little over a thousand feet up , the temperatures are in the 80s You heard that
: : Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 18, 2024 Strange Radar Circles Appear at Sunrise in Eastern Washington : Why Yesterday morning , near sunrise , a strange circular feature suddenly appeared in the weather radar over eastern Washington between Kennewick and Moses Lake see below A band of precipitation was to the . east A sequence of radar images shows the rapid development of this feature between 6:30 AM and 6:42 AM and it was gone by 7:27 . AM So what is going on here An alien presence The meteorological version of crop circles As Sherlock Holmes would say : nbsp The game's afoot First , piece of information . nbsp Sunrise yesterday morning at Moses Lake was at 6:36 . AM The second piece of
: . . Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 07, 2024 Oregon Smoke over Washington . Ends Monday . The visible satellite image this morning shows a plume of smoke over Washington , smoke that mainly originated over eastern . Oregon The effects of the smoke were pretty obvious over western Washington , with an attenuated , red sun rising to the east this : morning The smoke is thick enough that the intensity of solar radiation has decreased noticeably see measurements at Seattle below for the last three days below That means we will be cooler today as a result . nbsp Air quality is good on the coast , moderate over the western lowlands and the Columbia Basis , and poor over sections of eastern Oregon
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 29, 2024 Dust Storm Hits Eastern Washington The visible satellite image this afternoon clearly shows a dust storm over the Columbia Basin , stretching from around Moses Lake to the east orange arrow shows the feature Here is a better view from the NASA Aqua satellite The Washington DOD cams , a great source of weather information , showed a very obscured sky near Ritzville around 2 . PM Another cam near Moses Lake showed the beginning of the event around 9 AM this . morning My colleagues at the National Weather Service in Spokane made an excellent forecast of this dust event , providing warnings yesterday when it was clear low-level winds would be strong . nbsp
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 16, 2024 Darkness Descends On Washington State One of the lesser pleasures of living in Washington State is the return of darkness during the autumn . nbsp The rapid decline in solar radiation is particularly noticeable this time of . year And it is not a little depressing for . some Seattle at 7:45 AM Monday . morning To illustrate , below is the solar radiation received at the surface at a Seattle location near the University of Washington the WSU Ag Weather site from late June until yesterday . nbsp You can see the steady decline over time of the sun's rays and the recent plummeting as clouds increasingly intercept the declining radiation due to the normal
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 01, 2024 An Impressionist's Sky The sky this morning was beautiful see below An impressionist's dream . nbsp What you are seeing is mid-level convection : nbsp shallow cumulus clouds resulting from instability in the middle troposphere I will explain this later French impressionists loved such beautiful skies , as illustrated by this lovely painting by Monet The Port at Argenteuil Here is another one by Monet that was even more similar to what I viewed this morning . nbsp Monet should have been a meteorologist . The Seine at Vetheuil In 2024, we could do something Monet could not have dreamed of . to observe such clouds from space . nbsp And for your viewing
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events September 20, 2024 A Powerful Atmospheric River Takes Aim at British Columbia and Southeast Alaska If you are taking an Alaska cruise starting this weekend , bring an umbrella and heavy rain gear : nbsp you will need . it Why Because a powerful atmospheric river will strike the BC southern Alaska coast , dumping very heavy rain on the coastal terrain of the . region What really got my attention today was the forecast of the movement of water vapor in the atmosphere from off the Pacific , something called water vapor transport in the weather business see forecast for 11 AM Sunday , below Wow This graphic shows the movement of water vapor integrated through atmospheric