Weather reports on whatever I decide to report on.
UPDATE (06:45 Friday) – The fire weather watch is now a Red Flag Warning in effect from 12:00 to 20:00 Friday. All other forecast information is still valid – see Thursday’s article below: Dry, warm, and breezy conditions have prompted the National Weather Service office in Pendleton to issue a Fire Weather Watch for the […]
Rain showers were observed in the Columbia Basin early Tuesday as a disturbance passed through the Pacific Northwest. Most of the lowland precipitation has ended, though some showers remain possible into the daytime hours with the highest chance of these being along the Blue Mountains and northeast toward Ritzville. A few rumbles of thunder are […]
A warm front is passing over the Columbia Basin during the day Sunday to bring some rain showers and warmer temperatures. Rain showers are also possible Monday around the region with the highest chance being in the mountains. Look for breezy conditions with winds forecasted to get high enough on the Hanford Site and along […]
Afternoon highs in the Tri-Cities have been running above average for the last several days in the Columbia Basin with some places even approaching 70° late last week. These mild conditions are likely to come to an end with a strong upper level trough diving south out of Canada and into the Pacific Northwest. While […]
One of the most frequent questions that I get when posting about weather events over on Tri-Cities Weather is some form of “why does the alert stop at <insert county line here>?” The short answer is that it has to do with how the National Weather Service, the source of all official weather alerts in […]
An active weather pattern is expected to continue into the weekend. The Inland Northwest isn’t likely to see much in the way of precipitation as a ridge of high pressure off the Pacific Northwest puses weather systems up into Alaska and down the east side of the Rocky Mountains, dropping most of their moisture before […]
The drought gripping the Western United States continues to worsen in Eastern Washington. In this week’s update of the U.S. Drought Monitor, exceptional drought (level 4/4) was noted as stretching from the northern end of Rattlesnake Mountain to Sprague Lake, which lies between Ritzville and Spokane. A small sliver of exceptional drought conditions also reaches […]
Final update: July 2, 2021 at 06:10 PDT. Details below. As we head into July, the heat wave that gripped the region over the past week or so is waning. It leaves behind numerous new temperature records throughout the Pacific Northwest as well as possibly hundreds of deaths and some large wildfires. This article is […]
An unusually strong area of high pressure is forecast to build over the Pacific Northwest during the next several days. The drought in place across much of the West (including the Columbia Basin) also adds a little to what temperatures the region may see. With soil moisture values low, there is little if any water […]
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 […]