Wet, Cool Winter-Like Weather in June

During the next week or so, the weather will be more reminiscent of February than June, with lots of rain and MUCH colder than normal temperatures.  

Reservoirs, already above normal, will be topped off, streamflows will be substantially enhanced, and soils moistened.

Let's begin by looking at the predicted precipitation totals (by the European Center Model).

Through Friday, some regional light rain (see below)

The totals through Tuesday morning are getting serious, with windward (western) slopes and higher terran of the region wetted by as much as 2-3 inches.

Values of cumulative precipitation over the next 15 days are quite extraordinary, with substantial rain even falling over eastern Washington.

Now I will show you something hard to believe.  

A very, very strong atmospheric river will be aimed right at us on Sunday evening (a measure of the amount of water moved by the atmospheric river is shown). 

Just stunning.

Not only will it be wet, but much colder than normal, which reduces evaporation considerably and encourages water to percolate into the soil.  

Below is the forecast difference of temperature from normal for the next five days.  

Brrr! The whole region is 3-6F colder than normal,

Next five days?   Double Brrr!   The entire region remains cold!

The NOAA Climate Prediction Center is going for wetter than normal for their 5-10 day forecast:

And the NOAA Northwest River Forecast Center predicts that local rivers will rise substantially.  For example, consider the Yakima River, which is of prime interest these days.  Big jump upwards.

Having an extended cool, wet period at this time of the year is extremely favorable for both water supply and agriculture.   

Hopefully, the "extreme drought" hype will fade now.

Dramatic Mirage Over Puget Sound and a Super Sea Breeze

Today was the warmest day of the year so far, with some western Washington locations reaching the mid-80s, bringing some strange and remarkable weather features to our area.

First, there were some dramatic mirages for locations near Puget Sound.  Sandy beaches became sand cliffs, mountains were thrust high with strange valleys, and houses were displaced into the sky (see sample below off of Whidbey Island)

Picture courtesy of Greg Johnson 

 Want to be really impressed?  Play the video below, provided by Greg Johnson of Skunk Bay Weather.

So what is going on?  

Superior mirages produced by the intense inversion (temperature warming with height) in the lowest few hundred feet of the atmosphere.  

Why such a strong inversion?  Because we had very warm air above our cold (about 50F) water.

To illustrate, below is the temperature variation with height (red line shows temperature) at Forks, near the NW Washington Coast.  Temperature is in C (x-axis), and height is in pressure ( hPa, 850 is about 5000 ft).

An intense 15 °C low-level inversion (again, temperature warming with height) near the surface.

Such inversions act as a lens that bends light, making objects look higher than they really are.  Superior in this case means higher.

But not only did we have crazy optical effects, but we had a super sea breeze on the coasts.

So strong that its leading edge was apparent in the weather radar around 1 PM  today (dark blue line):

At Hoquium, near the Washington Coast, the sea breeze front produced a rapid wind shift from easterly to northwesterly around 1 PM, accompanied by a substantial acceleration of the wind speed.

Temperature peaked around 80°F before the sea breeze hit, and then dropped into the 60s by late afternoon.

Our short heatwave is over, and western Washington should remain below 70F for the next week.  Plus, lots of rain over the weekend.