Sep 6, 2016 | Climate Events, Climate Matters, Climate Review, Seasonal 1954 – The Year Without a Summer The summer of 2016 in WA state has had kind of a dual personality. From the middle of June into August, near to slightly below normal temperatures mostly prevailed during the part of the year that is typically the warmest. Read more
Aug 3, 2016 | Climate Matters, Clouds and Fog, Seasonal Summer Weather in WA: Is it cooler because it is cloudier or cloudier because it is cooler? With exceptions such as a warm spell near the end of July, WA state has experienced relatively cool and cloudy weather since the first week of June 2016, at least as compared with the same period during the last 3 summers. Read more
Jul 8, 2016 | Climate Events, Climate Matters, Climate Review, Extreme Heat, Rain and Snow July 1960- Washington State’s Driest Month An unofficial nickname for Washington is the “Evergreen State”; the term is included on our vehicle license plates. But we actually enjoy a Mediterranean climate with wet winters and dry summers, and much of the state is more brown than green during the summer. Read more
Jun 14, 2016 | Climate Matters, Seasonal, Trends Long-term Trends in Spring Temperatures and Recent Conditions If you’ve been a resident of WA State for only the last two years, you may be under the impression that summer comes early around here. The springs of 2015 and 2016 have been abnormally warm and dry for a majority of the state, lending a hand to this misimpression. Read more
May 5, 2016 | Climate Matters, El Niño/La Niña and Global Climate Oscillations The Pacific Decadal Oscillation: How much longer will it remain in the positive state? There is a close association between the short-term climate variability of the Pacific Northwest and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). The PDO is fundamentally a mode or pattern of North Pacific sea surface temperature variability; Figure 1 shows the monthly PDO index since about 1970. Read more
Mar 8, 2016 | Climate Events, Climate Matters, Ecology, Marine High Mortality of Cassin’s Auklets in the Pacific NW during the Winter of 2014-15 The waters off the coast of the Pacific Northwest have been unusually warm during the last couple of years, and this has had widespread and major impacts on the marine ecosystem. Read more
Feb 5, 2016 | Climate Matters, Forecasts Experimental 3-4 Week Forecasts from NOAA/CPC There are two basic types of meteorological forecasts. On shorter time scales, present atmospheric conditions can be used to predict spatial and temporal details in the evolution of the atmospheric flow and associated weather. Read more
Jan 6, 2016 | Atmospheric and Oceanic Circulation Patterns, Climate Matters, El Niño/La Niña and Global Climate Oscillations Early Winter Weather for WA during El Niño We return to the topic of El Niño and what it means for WA. Perhaps this constitutes an obsession, for which we make no excuses. The extremely wet month of December 2015 serves as motivation. Read more
Dec 4, 2015 | Climate Change Report, Climate Matters A New Synthesis Report on Climate Change in the Puget Sound A new state of the knowledge report from the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group on climate change in the Puget Sound region was released in November (Mauger et al. 2015). Read more
Nov 10, 2015 | Climate Matters, El Niño/La Niña and Global Climate Oscillations, Flooding and Streamflow Sea Level in WA during El Niño Winters As readers of this newsletter are aware, the tropical Pacific is currently in an El Niño state. Such conditions in the tropical Pacific have usually, but not always, been accompanied by relatively warm winters in the mean for the Pacific Northwest. Read more