Our monthly newsletter features a Climate Matters article, detailing a specific aspect of Washington’s weather and climate. These articles are archived here and categorized by topic area and date.
What is Spring?
As summarized in this newsletter, it was a remarkably cool and wet April for Washington state in 2011. All the grumbling about the lousy weather, in particular the common lament that it seemed like winter was never going to end, begs an interesting question.
Read moreAssessing One’s Carbon Footprint
The issue of global warming may seem remote to many residents of the Pacific Northwest, especially as winter weather has returned with a vengeance at the time of this writing. Nevertheless, global warming and climate change are real, and will have serious repercussions for the environment and human society.
Read moreOn the Interannual Variability of the Costliest Weather Events in WA State
WA gets its fair share of nasty weather, and these weather events can cause millions of dollars in damages. The types of events that have the biggest impacts, however, vary markedly from year to year (and do not always make headlines).
Read morePollution due to Wood Smoke and the Weather of WA State
Air quality is often good in the Pacific Northwest due to the prevailing west to east winds off the North Pacific. There are exceptions to this situation, of course, during which residents of Washington are exposed to hazardous levels of air pollution.
Read moreOn the Weather Forecasts made by the Old Farmer’s Almanac
One way to annoy many meteorologists is to suggest that the weather forecasts from the Old Farmer’s Almanac (OFA) are more skillful than those from the National Weather Service. I certainly share this peeve, and so on a lark some years ago, I decided to determine for myself whether the OFA forecasts for the Pacific Northwest had merit.
Read moreLa Niña and the Weather of WA State
The weather of the Pacific Northwest during the coming months, or otherwise known as the cool season, is impacted by the atmosphere-ocean system of the tropical Pacific. This region is currently experiencing what is termed La Nina, and this condition is expected to persist into 2011.
Read more2009 State of the Climate Report Released in BAMS
The State of the Climate Report is a yearly supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS) that summarizes the global and regional climate for each calendar year. The 2009 report was released in July (Arndt et al., 2010).
Read moreThunderstorms in WA State
Thunderstorms occur in the state of Washington relatively infrequently (Figure 1). There are about 20,000 lightning flashes per year on average (1996-2008), according to the National Lightning Detection Network. This sounds like a lot, but in terms of the frequency of flashes per unit area, Washington State actually ranks dead last compared to the rest of the continental United States.
Read moreThe Cool and Damp Weather of May-June 2010: Winners and Losers
Many sunlight-deprived residents of Washington State are complaining about the recent weather. Those that live on the west side of the Cascade Mountains are accustomed to cloudy and wet winters, and a slow warming as the days get longer during the spring.
Read moreThe Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) and the Weather of Washington State
The weather of the tropics on time scales of weeks to a couple of months is related to a phenomenon known as the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). The MJO modulates the distribution of deep cumulus convection, and the attendant atmospheric circulation on scales of thousands of kilometers in a band along the equator.
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