The Best Weather In the U.S.

 If you asked Google AI where the best weather in the U.S. will be, the answer will warm your heart:

Seattle gets called out with "perfect weather conditions".    As a trained meteorologist, I concur.

The forecast high-temperature map for Sunday across the U.S. shows only one urban area in the upper 60s to low 70s: western Washington.  Even eastern Washington is reasonable.

You dislike humid conditions with high dewpoints (above 60F) and want to avoid very dry, parching air (dewpoints below 40F)?     

Western Washington and Oregon are for you! (see plot of forecast dewpoint temperatures for 5 PM Sunday below)

Want sunny skies on Sunday?   Western Washington and Oregon residents will see blue skies.

And you like some light winds, but not too strong?  The wind gust forecast for tomorrow shows perfect conditions over western Washington.

Air quality?    Clean air (green dots) over the Northwest (see below).   You can take a deep breath!

There is so much negative information today about the environment, so it is good to acknowledge when things are spectacularly nice.    

I won't get many online hits in saying this... but it is true.😋

The North American Monsoon is About to Start: Part of the Northwest Will Get A Piece of It!

 Late June or early July is the traditional start time for the North American (or Southwest) Monsoon, during which moisture streams northward from Mexico into the southwestern U.S., bringing substantial showers to Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and sometimes Oregon, Idaho, and eastern Washington.

See the schematic below.  Such monsoons are often associated with an area of high pressure over Colorado and northern New Mexico, which draws moist air from the Gulf of Mexico into the American Southwest.

In a few days, the monsoon will get revved up, and some of the wet action will reach portions of the Northwest.

Let me show you!

Here is the predicted precipitation total over the next 10 days.  Some of the Mexican moisture pushes into Arizona and Nevada, and a small amount will extend into eastern Oregon.

The official NOAA Climate Prediction Center 6-10 day forecast is for wetter-than-normal conditions over the southwest U.S. The far southeastern portion of Oregon gets a wet taste of it.

As expected, this monsoon moisture will be driven by an upper-level high over the 4-corners area that will move moisture into the southwest from the southeast (500 hPa --about 18,000 ft map for each Sunday morning is shown below)

Here is the predicted precipitation for Tucson, Arizona.  Very wet!

There will be some good thunderstorms in Arizona if you enjoy big boomers.

This is not a particularly hot pattern for the Northwest, and Seattle will stay moderate in temperature (see below).

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Announcement

I will hold a special online Zoom session at 10 AM on Saturday for Patreon supporters. Will talk about the latest forecasts for the remainder of the summer and answer your questions!