Climate Matters | Washington State Climate Office

May 2, 2024 | Climate Matters, Climate Review, Drought and Soil Conditions

Fourth PNW Water Year Impacts Assessment Released

The fourth Pacific Northwest (PNW) Water Year Impacts Assessment, released in March, is a collaborative effort between water managers and scientists at the Office of the Washington State Climatologist, the Climate Impacts Group, Oregon Climate Service, Idaho Department of Water Resources, and the NOAA National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS).

Mar 11, 2024 | Climate Matters, Rain and Snow

Snow and Water Interactive Maps from the Natural Resources Conservation Service

As discussed above in this edition of our newsletter, the last week of February into March of 2024 featured some substantial snowfall in the mountains of Washington state. It has been heartening to watch the recent improvement in the snowpack – which can be thought of as out of the intensive care unit but not fully healed – and towards that end we have been making use of a relatively new application hosted by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the U.S.

Jan 9, 2024 | Climate Matters, El Niño/La Niña and Global Climate Oscillations, Rain and Snow

ENSO’s Effects on Snow Water Equivalent over the Years

We trust that most everybody interested in the climate variability of Washington state is already aware that El Niño conditions are present in the tropical Pacific. At the very least, discussions of the prospects for the winter of 2023-24 during the last few months have generally included this element.

Dec 6, 2023 | Climate Matters, Ecology, Temperature

Plant Hardiness Zones for Washington State

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently released a new plant hardiness zone map (PHZM). The zones are based on the average annual extreme minimum temperature during the years of 1991 through 2020.

Nov 14, 2023 | Climate Matters, El Niño/La Niña and Global Climate Oscillations, Winds

Winds in Washington State during El Niño

The upcoming winter of 2023-24 will include El Niño in the tropical Pacific. The vast majority of the readers of this newsletter are aware that El Niño winters tend to be on the warm side, and often but not as consistently on the dry side, with important implications for our end-of-winter mountain snowpack.

Oct 10, 2023 | Climate Matters, Clouds and Fog

Is it getting less foggy this time of year?

Based not just on my own perceptions, arguably of dubious trustworthiness, but also conversations with long-time residents of WA state, I have the sense that it is not as frequently foggy during early fall as it was in the past.

Sep 13, 2023 | Climate Matters, Drought and Soil Conditions

Comparative Analysis of Soil Moisture Products in WA

Soil moisture is becoming an increasingly important parameter in drought indication. However, collecting soil moisture data on a large scale is not easy, due to the multitude of soil properties and environmental factors affecting water accumulation and drainage in soils.

Aug 9, 2023 | Climate Events, Climate Matters, Climate Variability, Flooding and Streamflow

Whipsaws in Washington State Streamflows

At the risk of belaboring the obvious, we would first like to point out that we have been experiencing unusually dry weather in Washington state. A map of the precipitation during May through July 2023 expressed as a percent of normal.

Jul 11, 2023 | Climate Matters, Drought and Soil Conditions

Aridity Index – Columbia Basin Time Series

Readers of this newsletter know that the Columbia Basin of Washington state is a dry region due to the shadowing of precipitation by the Cascade Mountains. Perhaps less appreciated is that this effect is actually a bit more pronounced in summer than in winter.

Jun 8, 2023 | Climate Matters, Drought and Soil Conditions, Seasonal

Potential Evapotranspiration: Extreme Days in Eastern WA

This piece represents a follow-on to previous work focusing on summer seasonal mean trends in potential evapotranspiration (pET) in eastern Washington state (Bond and Bumbaco 2015). Our primary objective is to show how yearly counts of high pET days have varied since the late 1980s.