Rain on Snow
This is the time of year when it’s not just the climate geeks who are following what’s happening with our mountain snowpack. A range of audiences from winter sports enthusiasts to water managers are interested.
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Study Review: Trends in Flooding for Washington State
As we head into the flood season we thought we would dig up a USGS study from a few years back that took a look at past trends in floods (full citation below).
Read moreWhipsaws in Washington State Streamflows
At the risk of belaboring the obvious, we would first like to point out that we have been experiencing unusually dry weather in Washington state. A map of the precipitation during May through July 2023 expressed as a percent of normal.
Read moreSea Level Rise Projections and Visualizations
On October 31st, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) began in Glasgow, Scotland. There, the parties to the Paris Agreement are expected to ramp up their commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions so that the world may prevent some of the worsening effects of climate change.
Read moreTiming of Major Floods on 6 Rivers in WA State
The dry weather of autumn 2019 in an overall sense resulted in relatively low streamflows throughout most of WA state, but that story has changed drastically since late December. Since then there have been several periods of above normal streamflows with a number of rivers spilling over their banks.
Read moreLow Streamflows on the Skagit River in Early Summer 2019
The warm and dry spring of 2019 has raised concerns about water supplies in parts of WA state. It is unclear how much it is a coincidence, but the same topic was addressed in this space a year ago.
Read moreEl Niño Flooding: Flashback to November 2006
The “El Niño watch” issued by the Climate Prediction Center is still in effect, with the expectation that a weak or moderate El Niño will develop this winter. Appropriately, media reports have focused on the increased odds of a warmer and drier winter due to El Niño, with the warmer than usual temperatures being more likely to occur.
Read moreSteep Decline in Streamflows in Washington State
The total statewide averaged precipitation for the 2018 water year to date (1 Oct through 30 June) has been about 3.6” above normal. There was a healthy snowpack on 1 April — the traditional end of winter from the snowpack perspective — with snow water equivalent (SWE) values ranging from about 136% of normal in the Upper Columbia region to 98% in the southern Puget Sound region.
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Springtime Floods in Eastern WA
Winter is winding down in the Pacific Northwest, which means that floods are becoming less and less likely on many of our streams. In particular, rivers draining watersheds at mostly lower elevations, especially on the west side of the state, tend to experience their greatest streamflows from fall into the middle of winter in association with heavy rains.
Read moreSea 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.
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