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Recent Precipitation near the Oso Landslide

A landslide occurred on Saturday, March 22 east of Oso, WA in Snohomish County that resulted in a tragic loss of life. At least a contributing factor related to this landslide was the anomalously heavy rainfall that occurred at the location during February and March 2014. 

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The Arctic Oscillation and Pacific Northwest Weather

The Arctic Oscillation (AO), also known as the Northern Annular Mode (NAM), is an important element of the variability in the weather and climate of the Northern Hemisphere. It relates fundamentally to the state of the flow at northern latitudes, with the positive phase associated with a strong, axisymmetric polar vortex and the negative phase associated with a weak polar vortex, allowing for more prominent large-scale ridges and troughs for the whole hemisphere. 

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Western WA Heat Waves

As we enter the summer months, it is timely to discuss a research paper that was recently published in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (Bumbaco et al. 2013). OWSC collaborated with the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University to examine the historical record of heat waves occurring west of the Cascade Mountains in both Washington and Oregon. 

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