Experimental Potential Heat Risk Forecasts from the National Weather Service
We have already had some warm weather in WA during the past May, and rest assured more is on the way for the upcoming summer. While our temperatures do not tend to get as high as those in many other parts of the country, it can certainly get hot enough to represent a health risk, especially for vulnerable groups – which include young children and elderly as well as those with some medical conditions.
Read moreLate Cold during Winters in Washington State
As reported above, the last 2 weeks of February were quite chilly, with numerous locations setting all-time lows for the date on the 23rd. Many places have had their coldest temperatures of this winter in late February, even though the nights are noticeably shorter than in December and January.
Read moreRegional Circulation Patterns and Temperatures in Winter
It is perhaps belaboring the obvious, but temperatures have increased in WA over the last 50-100 years. From the perspective of extremes, our colder winter months, relative to climatological norms, are not as anomalous as in past decades, and our much warmer than usual months are occurring more frequently.
Read moreIs Winter Coming Later to Washington State?
The Office of the Washington State Climatologist sometimes receives questions about whether the timing of the seasons has shifted. Ken Kunkel and collaborators have examined how the length of the growing season has changed across the lower 48 states, and others have documented the changes from a regional perspective (e.g., Abatzoglou et al., 2014 and the Climate Impacts Group).
Read morePrediction of Mean Summer Temperatures in Washington State
Recent work at OWSC has led us to ponder just how predictable summer mean temperatures are in Washington state. We constructed a simple model for a workshop on El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the seasonal weather of the western US with this question in mind.
Read moreAre Springs Becoming Rainier in Washington State?
It has been a wet spring in Washington state. The second half of May 2017 has actually been dry but that does not really make up for the drenching from March through mid-May.
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Springtime Soil Temperatures in Washington State
One need not be a regular reader of this newsletter to appreciate how cool and wet it has been in WA during the past winter and early spring of 2017 (but hopefully it does not hurt).
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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 more1954 – 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 moreSummer 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.
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