November 24, 2008

The Greatest Local Weather Threat

What do you think is the greatest local weather threat? Heavy rain? Strong winds? Flooding? No way...it is black ice on the roads. Clearly, icy roads kill more NW residents than any other weather phenomenon. When is the greatest threat? Now! The worst situations are generally during late fall and early winter when there are clear skies, radiation cooling to space, relatively light winds, and fog. If you are interested in this threat...and want to learn how to protect yourself...check out the roadway icing tutorial I wrote a while back:

http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~cliff/Roadway3.html

Today will be partly sunny with highs in the lower 50s. Tomorrow...a weak front will move through midday...with some modest showers...it wont hit till around lunch time and the rain (except for a possible convergence zone) will be done by dinner. Wednesday will by dry with sun.

What is really amazing is what the computer models are predicting for this weekend. An extraordinary, high amplitude ridge. No rain. Above normal temps. The place to go will be southern Oregon...where offshore flow could drive temps into the 70s. They don't call the Brookings area the banana belt for no reason. And sixties up the Oregon coast. Make your coastal Oregon reservations for this weekend now....it will be magnificent if the models are correct...

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