Weather reports on whatever I decide to report on.
Ridging over the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday along with a strong low in the Gulf of Alaska are driving mostly sunny and seasonably warm conditions in the Portland area. Meanwhile to the north, a Pineapple Express has been aiming at Vancouver Island, producing up to 200 mm (8 inches) of rain. This Pineapple Express is […]
Warm temperatures in the Inland Northwest this week have accelerated snowmelt. Broadly speaking, the snowpack in the Columbia River watershed remains healthy though it has dropped rapidly relative to climatological norms the last few days. Rapid melt periods are common during Spring and early Summer and the rate is likely to decrease into the weekend […]
Spring of 2022 was notoriously wet across the Pacific Northwest, but an abrupt pattern change in June left the region unusually dry through the rest of the summer and into the first half of fall. Some rain did fall during this time in the Tri-Cities, but from June 13 to October 20, only 0.39 inches […]
The first half of October brought mostly sunny skies and warm temperatures to the Pacific Northwest as a persistent ridge of high pressure sat overhead, forcing the storm track into Southeast Alaska. The Tri-Cities have recorded ten days with highs at or above 80° so far this month, tying the record set in 1945. Temperatures […]
Satus Pass is a small mountain pass on the east side of the Cascades. Traversed by US 97, the pass lies between Goldendale to the south and Toppenish to the north. The ridge the pass cuts through forms the southern boundary of the Yakama Nation in this part of the region. To the south, land […]
The heat wave is forecast to slowly come to an end over the next couple of days but fire danger will increase as it makes its way out. This has prompted the National Weather Service to issue a Red Flag Warning in effect from 12:00 Monday to 21:00 Tuesday for the combination of low humidity […]
A magnitude 3.9 earthquake was observed near Mount Hood late in the day on June 5. Minor shaking was reported by people living around the volcano, but earthquakes this small do not typically produce damage. It has produced many aftershocks in what geologists are calling an earthquake swarm. The USGS defines an earthquake swarm as […]
As the storm system I blogged about yesterday continues to approach, the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory for our area. Not much has changed in the forecast (except a slightly lower chance of rain), so I won’t go into too much detail about that here. If you missed it, feel free to click […]
Yes that’s right, we have a chance of snow in the Tri-Cities. The big weather story this week, though, will be cold temperatures. There’s been a lot of uncertainty surrounding what to expect this week, but it looks like the models have finally reached some sort of agreement on what we can look forward to. […]
It seems like every day for the past week has been breezy. This is thanks to repeated weather systems that have crossed over the Pacific Northwest every 24-36 hours for the last several days. While these haven’t been bringing much precipitation to the Tri-Cities, they have been providing rain to the west side as well […]