New Visualization: Updated PNW Temperature, Precipitation, and Snow Water Equivalent Trend Tool
OWSC, in partnership with UW’s Climate Impacts Group, is pleased to announce that our new Pacific Northwest Trend Analysis tool is now available for exploration: https://climate.washington.edu/climate-data/trendanalysisapp/. An older and outdated version of this tool using the Google Maps interface was formerly the most popular tool on OWSC’s website, allowing users to select and view trends in the PNW for temperature, precipitation, and snow water equivalent.
Read moreClimatology of WA’s West Olympic Coast Climate Division (#1)
It has long been a vision of OWSC to feature a 10- part “Climate Division of WA” series in our newsletter, describing the climate of the 10 NOAA Climate Divisions, individually.
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.
Read moreWhy has the weather been so cool?
For many of us in the Northwest, the record cool start to June seemed like the last straw after what felt like an exceptionally dismal spring. Let’s check some facts though and then see if we can understand what happened
The graph below shows daily temperatures for each day in the last 365 days, compared with the long-term average for each day (=climatology, the smooth curve); blue periods were cooler than “normal” and red periods warmer than normal.
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 moreA Review of Winter 2017-2018
Seasonal weather forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center made in fall 2017 for the winter of 2017-18 were generally indicating cool and wet conditions, in line with the expected development of La Niña.
Read moreWhat Climate Change means to our Crucial Snowpack
Originally published in The Seattle Times on March 23, 2018
“Low mountain snowpack raises water-supply fears in Washington” was a Seattle Times headline on January 6, 2015. Just one year later, another headline proclaimed, “Snow pack in good shape, likely well into spring”.
Late 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 moreWettest Month in State History – December 1933
In three previous newsletters we’ve reviewed the warmest (July 1985), coldest (January 1950), and driest (July 1960) months over the last 100 years for WA State. Here we complete the series with a look back at the wettest month in WA State history dating back to when modern records began in the 1890s: December 1933.
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 more