News | Washington State Climate Office

Dec 4, 2018 | Atmospheric and Oceanic Circulation Patterns, Climate Events, Climate Matters, Forecasts, Marine

The Return of Warm Water to the NE Pacific

The intense marine heat wave (MHW) of 2014-16 in the NE Pacific, aka the “Blob”, received a great deal of attention and deservedly so. When relatively warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs) emerged in the Gulf of Alaska in late summer/early fall 2018, both those monitoring the North Pacific atmosphere ocean climate system, and the media, began speculating whether a new MHW might be developing.

Nov 8, 2018 | Climate Events, Climate Matters, El Niño/La Niña and Global Climate Oscillations, Flooding and Streamflow

El 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.

Oct 3, 2018 | Climate Matters, El Niño/La Niña and Global Climate Oscillations

Effect of ENSO on Early Season Snowfall in the Washington Cascades

Most readers of this newsletter are probably aware that El Niño winters tend to result in relatively skimpy snowpacks, and that El Niño development is more likely than not during the upcoming winter.

Sep 10, 2018 | Climate Matters, Trends

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 An older and outdated version of this tool using the Google Maps interface was formerly the most popular tool on OWSC’s website, allowing users to select and view trends in the PNW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.

Aug 6, 2018 | Climate Matters, Climate Review

Climatology 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.

Jul 10, 2018 | Climate Events, Climate Matters, Flooding and Streamflow

Steep 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.

Jun 12, 2018 | Climate Events

Why 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.

Jun 8, 2018 | Climate Matters, Extreme Heat, Seasonal

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.

May 4, 2018 | Climate Events

A 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.

Apr 4, 2018 | Climate Change Report, Climate Matters, Rain and Snow

What 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”.