Note: The data presented in this post is accurate as of midday Wednesday. Snowflakes in weather apps present an annual struggle for meteorologists and weather enthusiasts. Last night, a friend of mine texted me showing exactly that – a major weather app with snow in the forecast for the Tri-Cities. Before we get too deep, […]
Thoughts on our upcoming weather: Interpreting long-range forecasts
Note: This post talks about official forecasts for this winter and is the final part of my series on my thoughts for the upcoming winter. Other posts in this series can be found here. HOW THE FORECAST WORKS Before we look at long-range forecasts from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and Environment Canada, it is important […]
Thoughts on our upcoming winter: Analog years
Note: This post talks about previous years that had some similarities to our current situation and is part of a series on my thoughts for the upcoming winter. Other posts in this series can be found here. ANALOG YEARS Looking at analog years goes deeper than looking at the Blob and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. […]
Thoughts on our upcoming winter: Impact of The Blob
Note: This post talks about the impact of the Blob on winter weather in the Tri-Cities and is part of a series on my thoughts for the upcoming winter. Other posts in this series can be found here. THE BLOB The Blob is an area of persistent, unusually warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the […]
Thoughts on our upcoming winter: Impact of El Niño-Southern Oscillation
Note: This post talks about the impact of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation on historic weather in the Tri-Cities and is the first in a series on my thoughts for the upcoming winter. Other posts in this series can be found here after they are released. INTRODUCTION As we transition toward the cold season, arguably the […]
Tri-Cities Summer Weather Stats
Meteorological summer (June through August) is over and that means we have lots of fun new data to pour through! This summer ended up being a mixed bag. We didn’t experience as extreme of heat as usual, but our mean temperature was somewhat above average. Interestingly, we were below average for precipitation. Let’s start off […]
GALLERY: Awesome pictures of Tuesday’s storm in Benton City
Tuesday brought scattered thunderstorms to the area. Most of these storms were concentrated around the mountains, but around 7:45 pm a storm formed that brought heavy rain, hail, and frequent lightning to Benton City. This storm produced quarter-size hail, which was the only severe weather report yesterday in the entire country west of Interstate 25. […]
Let’s talk about dust devils
Earlier this week, I was hiking up Candy Mountain with my wife. As we were headed up the slope, I noticed a lot of dust being lifted off a construction site on Kennedy Road. There had been occasional gusts, so at first I thought this was just a strong one, but a within a few […]
Does a snowy winter lead to an unusually hot summer?
For my statistics class at WSU Tri-Cities, I had to do a research project on a set of data. Having heard repeated statements and questions along the lines of “since it was so snowy this winter, that means it will be unusually hot this summer, right?” When I learned I had to do this project, […]
Drought improvement continues across Pacific Northwest
With all the snow we’ve received in the Pacific Northwest over the past several weeks, it’s crazy to think that there are still some parts of the region still experiencing drought conditions. Almost all of the drought is centered in the Oregon Cascades and the high deserts south of John Day (with a small amount […]