The Cold/Snowy Period Reveals Itself
Updated: 2025-01-31 06:21:00
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 30, 2025 The Cold Snowy Period Reveals Itself As we get closer to the big transition , more powerful and higher-resolution modeling tools become . available So what do they say Almost everyone will see some snowflakes , but for many in the lowlands , it will not add to . much For the 36-h through 4 AM Saturday , the mountains will be hit hard by snow and NE Washington will get several inches as well . nbsp Nearly no snow near sea . level In contrast , the snowfall during the next 24-h through Sunday at 4 AM starts to spread into the lowlands , with three main foci below One snow band extends westward across Bellingham and the San Juans . nbsp A weaker band is
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 29, 2025 The Upcoming Period of Cold and Snow We are going into a very complex , difficult weather situation , with substantial . uncertainty But some things are : clear There will be heavy snow in the . mountains There will be a return of serious precipitation on Friday , starting as rain Some areas near sea level will have snow starting on . Saturday Very much colder air . cold enough to snow at low levels . will move in on Saturday and stick around for . days The surface and road surfaces have cooled to freezing and will not be warm enough to melt incoming . snow Step 1 : nbsp Friday Warm Storm On Friday , a moderate low-pressure center will sweep off the
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 29, 2025 Freezing Fog this Morning Just a quick note that there is substantial danger of icy roads and sidewalks this morning , not only from frost , but freezing fog . nbsp Some of the fog is freezing on contact with the cold surface , leading to substantial deposition of . ice The surface air temperatures , taken at around 6 ft above the surface , at 7 AM we nearly all below freezing . nbsp Except for higher hills above the . inversion The cold has been conducted into the earth , with the soil temperatures 2 inches down way below freezing in eastern Washington . nbsp Temperatures are just above freezing at that depth in Washington . State Finally , the latest
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 27, 2025 Why has air quality declined recently Air quality has been moderately degraded during the past few . days This morning , you could see hints of haze in an image from the Seattle . PanoCam Tonight , the PurpleAir air quality network shows marginal air quality orange and red colors over Puget . Sound Why the poor quality Because of high-pressure overhead that produces a strong inversion in the lower . atmosphere An inversion is a situation in which temperature warms with height , the opposite inversion of the normal cooling with . elevation Inversions suppress mixing in the vertical , thus allowing pollutant concentrations to increase over . time The
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 25, 2025 The Direct Connection Between Northwest Weather and Los Angeles Santa Ana Winds and Wildfires It is not an accident that while Los Angeles experiences sustained Santa Ana winds , the Northwest enjoys sunny , dry . weather As I will show , there is an intimate . connection Considering the dates on which Burbank Airport see map had wind gusts greater than 50 mph and a relative humidity less than 30 a strong indicator of a strong Santa Ana wind . event Burbank was surrounded by the fires and is a good location to determine if strong winds getting to near sea level--a hallmark of the recent . event This wind and humidity criterion found the following : dates
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 23, 2025 The Highest Pressure in Ten Years Did you feel the pressure yesterday Feel a bit weighted down If so , it may not be due to the political energy in the . air Yesterday morning , sea level pressure around the Northwest was the greatest in ten . years The average sea level pressure is approximately 1013 hPa hPa is a unit of pressure Yesterday morning , several northwest locations experienced 1041-1045 hPa . nbsp This is high . very . high Higher than any other time since 2015 in our area . nbsp To illustrate , here are the pressures observed at 10 AM yesterday see below Around 1042 hPa near Seattle and higher to the north and . east To see how unusual such
: , , Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 21, 2025 Blocking Ridge , Dry Pacific Northwest , and Southern California Rain Not a boring time for . meteorologists New Orleans Airport is closed with record-breaking snow and cold , while the Pacific Northwest is strangely dry and southern California will get its first decent rain of the . season The Big Easy All because of a highly amplified upper-level wave . pattern The upper level 500-hPa height map think of this as pressure around 18,000 ft today shows a ridge of high pressure aloft over the eastern Pacific while a trough of low pressure is found over the eastern U.S . red indicates high pressure and blue indicates low pressure Ridges high pressure
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 19, 2025 The Origin of The Los Angeles Wildfires My group and scientists from the University of Albany are now studying the meteorology of the LA wildfires earlier this month and have significant early results . nbsp At the American Meteorological Society meeting last week , I attended many wildfire meteorology sessions and talked to several colleagues who have actively studied such events . The LA fires were a topic of considerable . discussion We have a good idea of what happened : nbsp an extreme unusual Santa Ana event associated with severe downslope winds . nbsp In this blog , I will show you some early simulations and explain why this event occurred . nbsp
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 16, 2025 The Northwest Sacrifices its Precipitation So New Orleans Can Experience Snow This week I have been in New Orleans , attending the Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society . nbsp I spent a lot of time in the sessions dealing with the meteorology of western wildfires--will share some of the interesting findings in future blogs . nbsp I even gave a talk on western Washington Oregon . wildfires We are now experiencing and will continue to experience an unusually dry period on the West Coast , and that will be associated with cold and snow over the eastern U.S . nbsp Snowflakes my fall on the Big . Easy The reason A strong and persistent ridge
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 14, 2025 Why the LA Wildfires Have Little to With Drought or Climate Change Some climate activists and media outlets are claiming the drought or climate change were major contributors to the recent wildfires around Los Angeles see sample below These claims can easily be shown to be . false Drought had little impact on the LA . fires Climate Change had little impact . nbsp Let me provide the facts . below The Fuels The vegetative fuels for the fires were predominantly light fuels such as grasses and range vegetation . nbsp To illustrate , consider the area where the Palisades fire started below Most of these fuels are 1-10 hr fuels , which means they typically dry
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 12, 2025 Increasing Winds Threaten Southern California Let me say at the onset , that the threat is nothing like last week , but strong winds today and powerful winds tomorrow are a serious problem . both in dealing with current fires and for starting new . ones The National Weather Service is again putting out a strong message see below These warnings need to be taken seriously , including shutting down the power to some . areas Winds have accelerated today , with maximum gusts reaching 60 mph in the mountains and 40-50 mph at lower elevations around Malibu see below The strong wind are generally from the northeast , a classic of Santa Ana . conditions Looking
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 11, 2025 Where and how did the Palisades Fire start I am going to go out on a limb here . nbsp There is strong evidence on exactly how and where the Palisade Fire started . nbsp We know that the fire started around 10:30 AM on Tuesday . nbsp The GOES visible satellite image at that time is shown below and you can see the smoke plume from a single . fire Using Google Maps we can easily identify that spot , just east of the Summit Community . nbsp Below is a close-in shot of Summit , with the red arrow indicating roughly where the fire started started based on weather satellite smoke . plume What do we find at the location where the fire started Powerlines . nbsp.png)
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 10, 2025 A Relatively Dry Week Ahead--And Hope for Some California Rain It is not unusual to have a dry period during the second or third week of January and this will be the case this . year The really wet systems tend to hit our region in mid-November , when the jet stream is directly aimed at our region see probability of 0.10 inch below at SeaTac . nbsp By mid-January , the jet stream often goes south of us , giving California much needed . rain There will be serious drying this week with periods of sun for many Northwest locations . nbsp In fact , the weather.com forecast , which is quite good in general , has low probability of rain at SeaTac for the entire
: Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 08, 2025 Did the LA Fire Disaster Have to Happen The weather forecasts for the Los Angeles area were nearly perfect for Tuesday and Wednesday . nbsp Very strong winds and low relative humidity were predicted by the high-resolution models such as the NWS HRRR model with forecast winds greater than 60 mph . nbsp The region was bone-dry with little rain during the past . months The NOAA's HRRR model prediction of wildfire potential on Monday indicated very high values in the Pacific Palisades region see below It is hard to imagine doing . better The National Weather Service put out an ominous forecast for the danger of wildfire . I blogged about it on Monday because
: . Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 06, 2025 The National Weather Service Warns of a Catastrophic Windstorm in Los Angeles . Massive Pre0mptive Power Outages Planned Because of my research on western U.S . wildfires , I keep close tabs on the weather in southern . California So I was more than a little interested in the extreme warnings made by the National Weather Service for densely populated portions of southern California see below They call this a LIFE THREATENING AND DESTRUCTIVE WINDSTORM . nbsp An EXTREME RISK demanding immediate action . nbsp Folks are warned to stay away from . windows Specifically , tomorrow and Wednesday morning , the NWS is predicting north to northeast winds of 30-45
: , , Cliff Mass Weather Blog This blog discusses current weather , weather prediction , climate issues , and current events January 05, 2025 Horse Manure , Climate Change , and Nuclear Energy The Great Manure Crisis of the late 19th century offers some serious lessons for those worried about the existential threat of global warming from CO2 emissions . nbsp A predicted crisis that never occurred because of new . technology Just before the dawn of the 20th century , there was desperate talk about the huge accumulation of horse manure on the streets of major world cities . nbsp Not only was rising levels of horse poop inhibiting travel , but it threatened to become a major health hazard . nbsp For example , New York City had 150,000 horses , each producing 15-30 pounds of manure daily .