January 04, 2009
Clear Mountains
Take a looks towards the Cascades..there are crystal clear...it seems they are only a few miles away. Why? As the low approaches there is strong offshore flow as air from eastern Washington accelerates westward over the mountains. As the air sinks it dries and moisture on particles evaporates.
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Are Eastern Pacific Cyclones Become More Frequent or Stronger?
During the past three days, I have received several calls from media folks asking the same question: Are storms like this week's &quo...
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Mother Nature seems to have forgotten about the current strong El Nino and the record warmth of the past month. Massive snow will fall over ... -
The latest model forecasts are consistent: an unusually powerful storm with extreme low pressure will develop rapidly offshore on Monday a...
They are beautiful from here, thanks for pointing them out, Cliff. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing it out. I noticed it too this morning.
ReplyDeleteI live near Duvall (King-48, KWADUVAL5) and I've been watching the dew point dropping.
ReplyDeleteAt 9am the temp was 34, with the dew point 24.9.
Now, its 36 degrees with a dew point of 23. Again, our professor is right - the air is drying. All the more better for snow :)
For those interested, a very nicely presented Java/Flash weather radar summary. It is zoomable in goggle maps format.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.intellicast.com/Local/Map.aspx?location=USWA0441
Sitting here in Coupeville, overlooking Admiralty Inlet. My wife and I were talking this morning how clear, close, and cold the Olympics look. The peaks are now in the clouds; looks like snowing on the peaks.
ReplyDeleteArgggggh! The cursed white flakes are falling in Alki--lightly for now, though radar suggests more is coming. Air temp is holding at 36 deg. F.
ReplyDeleteFortunately they are doomed and should melt by the morning's commute...
Moclips, WA - 15 miles north of Ocean Shores. Snowing steadily and 33F. Approximately 2 inches have fallen in the last 60 minutes and the roads are covered. Wind from the East 8mph. 29.79 Barometer is falling its 3:27pm
ReplyDeleteDavis Vantage Pro2 weather instruments
Moclips, WA 33F and snowing steadily. Wind from the East 8mph. Approx 2 inches on the roadway in the last 60 minutes. The Ocean beaches are white with snow. Bar 29.78 and falling. 3:30pm 1/4
ReplyDeleteIt is snowing in Shelton like someone just opened a trap door in the clouds.
ReplyDeleteAny idea when the switch to rain will begin?
The snowy revelation has begun...it is not with irony that snow and salt are both white.
ReplyDeleteFlurries ... Hwy 9 / Maltby Rd
ReplyDeletesticking yukon harbor kitsap
ReplyDelete31 and near blizzard near Bangor/Poulsbo. I am glad to see it with no where to go today and gladder still that it will be gone by morning.
ReplyDeletesnowing steadily in Winslow on Bainbridge Island.
ReplyDeleteRain/snow shadow on Useless Bay on Whidbey....I think it's snowing less than a mile away in Langley though, and the Ronald Bog Blog has it snowing in Shoreline...We have big winds here and a dark,looming sky...
ReplyDeleteIt started snowing in East Bremerton about 3:30pm, lightly at first, but then picking up steadily, with occasional bursts of wind. Right now it's still coming down at a pretty good clip, and blowing in sideways at times. Everything is dusted white and it's beautiful.
ReplyDeleteUpdates on my last post, pasted in here:
ReplyDeleteB[ob] said...
Another posting re Anonymous'
"Thanks for the blog, Cliff! However, I must agree with a previous commenter (earlier this week), that the formatting of pictures plays havoc with the text flow.
If you post the pix sans alignment tags, it'll look a lot better."
I (Bob) agree that the pix (maps, charts, etc) make the text hard to read when they are so big that we get a narrow string of half-words on the left!
But, I just discovered that, at least with this posting, if you click on a pic, it enlarges to "Full Screen," so I'd suggest as a better alternative:
(1) shrink each pic to less than half a screen-width, even if that makes it virtually unintelligible (since we can still see if it's a map, chart, satellite photo or local camera shot), then
(2) add as a caption below each
"Click on to Enlarge," so folks who aren't web/blog junkies can learn how to view the full-screen copy.
Check this out with this posting: it's really useful in the bottom two snow-depth forecast maps for Monday and Tuesday.
But, the snowflakes I'm seeing out the window NOW at 3:30 in SE Lake Forest Park above the lake are suggesting that we need a similar map for Sunday! (However, we're still seeing temps above 32F, so it probably won't stick until the temp drops...)
What's coming TODAY, Cliff?
January 4, 2009 3:34 PM"
First, I now realize that I'd left Cliff's blog open on my computer at 9:45 AM (after opening it at 7:30), and it was still open when I started checking the computer today at about 2:00, with no sign of a Sunday posting from Cliff, even when I did may last posting above.
But, my wife suggested that the text-pic problem discussed above is probably browser-dependent, so I just surfed into the blog with (3-year-old?) Netscape and Internet Explorer and SAW today's 2 postings from Cliff, so I went and closed/re-opened my Mozilla Firefox link to the blog, and ALSO found today's 2 postings!
So, the first lesson is that, at least with Mozilla Firefox running in Windows XP, new postings by Cliff on the blog will NOT OPEN in an ongoing blog session, so we can't "monitor the blog for new postings" by staying connected while doing email or drafting docs or watching TV or singing along with folkie stuff on KBCS 91.3 with the Firefox window closed, and periodically opening the Firefox window to look for new postings! I'll have to look now to see if Comments by others have been updated, as my new ones were, or whether I/we Firefoxers need to close and re-open the blog link to update those too.
This posting is long, so I'll post it and continue in the next one...
light snow - no accumulation. temp has been rising slowly all day - was 31 @ 10am, now 35 with winds light and gusting to 10mph. at 200' in east olympia.
ReplyDeleteFairly heavy snow in Silverdale since about 3:45. Starting to accumulate.
ReplyDeleteNext re snow and temps in SE Lake Forest Park:
ReplyDelete(1) we're still getting what looks like 2/3 snowflakes and 1/3 drizzle;
(2) our garden shed thermometer's radio reports to our indoor display are toggling between 33 and 32 F;
(3) our Subaru (driven home at about 2:00, parked outside in the snow but with little breeze) was reporting 36F 15 minutes ago but the engine is probably still warm, as is the passenger compartment;
(4) our solar water heater panel is still reporting 60F, but even with clouds and light snow, that's not unusual;
(5) I just remembered that we have an old indoor-outdoor thermometer with north-side outdoor temp detector in my old basement faculty/calculator/software-beta office, so I checked it to see 5 C or maybe 36F -- a surprising disagreement with the shed!
But then, I noticed steam blowing by the window through which the outdoor temp-detector tube enters, and realized that we have a clothes dryer running and venting out of that wall only 8 ft E from the temp detector, with a mild E--> W breeze blowing the hot moist air past the temp-detector, so I'll have to wait until half an hour after the dryer finishes its gig, before I can get a reliable reading of outdoor temps from that thermometer.
Tentative conclusion: since the temp seems to be dropping slowly, and the shed isn't vented (also not insulated, but the radio temp-detector has 4 ft of air above it and 6 ft below) the shed temp is likely to be 2-3 degrees F above outside temps under these conditions, so snow should be able to stick soon.
Medium size wet snowflakes falling in South Tacoma since 4:15 PM. Temp is 34.7
ReplyDeleteSticking to grass....
Cliff, Nice observation, and explanation. Too bad the view is short-lived.
ReplyDeleteSnowing heavy wet flakes here in Lynnwood/Edmonds, but feeling like it's going to rain.
5:14pm
east olympia again. temp has dropped 2* in the past hour, and the wind gusts have increased. light snow going mostly sideways.
ReplyDeleteanyone know whether olympia is considered 'lowlands'? if not, what are we (be polite ;-)).
Snowing ice crystal type snow in Edmonds @ about 280'. Streets covered with about 1/8". 33.1 F.
ReplyDeleteLakewood, Steilacoom, back side of N Ft Lewis
ReplyDeleteSnow for about the past 1/2 hour; enough to stick (maybe an inch??)
Everything stopped for now, calm, no winds.
Re Mozilla Firefox vs Netscape vs Windows IE:
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely a difference!
The most dramatic example is in yesterday's Wet Warm-Up Late Tomorrow Mon 05 snow map.
(1) In Internet Explorer, there is skinny text down the left margin of the map:"
Perha
ps the
ski resort
s can
catch
up on
lost
busi
ness.
P. S.
Thank
s for
all
your
help
with the questionnaire..."
and Netscape has the same look, but
if I'm recalling correctly, Firefox has no text down the left side (I can't re-check until I post this).
Also I/we think that Firefox is displaying the cloud-globes differently on our Windows XP desktop and Windows Vista laptop, where yesterday's globe is on the right of text (at least on Netscape and IE under XP) and today's is on the left of blank space, while this is reversed under Vista. I'll recheck and correct after I post this so I can scroll back to the XP Firefox.
Also, I first tried to post this comment from Netscape, but it locked up, with some report of Firefox/Netscape collision, and I had to do CTRL/ALT/DEL to END Netscape. I did have Comments open in Firefox, but no Comment in process.
I'll try Commenting from IE next after I post this and check the Firefox globe and map-text stuff.
Came out of the movies in Poulsbo at 4:30 and heavy snow was falling. Headed home by way of Central Market and just got in at 5:30. Snow is sticking everywhere, except where shadowed. 1/2" already. Was 36 when we got out, now 33 here at home. Barely made it up the hill - had to spin the tires down to the gravel still on the road surface before we got traction but we made it. Be interesting to see how much accumulates before the rains begin. Glad to be home!
ReplyDeleteCasey Burns
Kingston
Verification/correction:
ReplyDelete(1) The text-map report is correct: Netscape and IE have the almost-unreadable hyphenated-word text, while Firefox with both XP and Vista have mostly blank space to the left and most of the text above the map; but
(2) All of Netscape, IE, and both Firefoxes have the same globe positions yesterday and today, so in particular we don't yet have an XP/Vista difference.
I'll try posting from "No Longer Supported" Netscape {it just warned me} and from IE next.
Getting close to a half inch on the ground in north Edmonds (elevation 380 feet). Started about 3:30 pm.
ReplyDelete33 degrees, 1.5 inches of snow at 350' elevation, Vashon.
ReplyDeleteTesting Internet Explorer, which warns about "protections" which I had to "cancel" to see JewelaZ's photo: Why??? Is she on somebody's "Illegal aliens" list, or maybe the CIA's spyin' on her?
ReplyDeleteMaybe all of us Mass-blog addicts are on somebody's list?
Doesn't "freedom of speech" include blogs? If not yet, Obama will fix it ASAP! Yes, We Can!
When I tried to post this, I got the same warning, and SWSDuvall was hidden too (twice) so I scanned down and found Camco also hidden/forbidden (no other pix this time) Does IE think pix are obscene?
Heavy snow falling on Mercer Island with 3/4 inch of accumulation on streets and lawns and everywhere! 6 PM
ReplyDeleteIt's looking pretty white outside in Mountlake Terrace. It's been snowing nonstop for a couple hours now and it's sticking on the streets and grass. Only a good dusting right now. The temperatures are falling as well. I show 32 degrees now and it was at 35 when the snow started.
ReplyDeleteDuvall 31F 6:05pm
ReplyDeleteWe've got .5 inch of snow now - tiny steady flakes falling. NOAA's forecast for Duvall says 3-5 inches tonight. I wonder if there's any chance this new stuff will stick around and we'll miss out on the rain?
Mod-heavy snow Cap hill about 1 inch on ground.. 31.6 degrees. Big flat flakes and loving it!
ReplyDeleteOK, IE forced obsolete Netscape to lock up too, but it will show me Blogger JewelyaZ, Blogger SWSDuvall, and Blogger camco ..., so I/we now see that IE thinks Bloggers are the "enemies" or "obscene", and the rest of us are "off the list.."
ReplyDeleteI'll have to Google/GoodSearch Netscape to see if I'm correctly recalling that somebody bought it and may be issuing an update under another name (the Warning is hyping "Flock" as the replacement after March 08 -- have any of you Mass-blog fans tried it? if so, please email me at jobobmoore@gmail.com!
Snowing in downtown Tacoma. Streets are a slushy mess, grass and rooftops are covered. It's the heavy, wet "cement" type snow we're accustomed to around here.
ReplyDeleteOK, well I'm ready for summer.
We left Copalis Beach at 12:45 PM based on Cliff's prognosis for snow. Arrived in Silverdale at 3 PM just as the first flakes started falling. I noted with interest the report from Moclips. Sounds like another observer on the North Beach with a Vantage Pro system.
ReplyDeleteI upload from Copalis to Weather Underground (KACOPAL3) and CWOP (DW1622). I would encourage anonymous from Moclips to join the fun.
BTW Cliff, excellent book! I received mine in the mail yesterday. I stayed home last night and read about Pacific Northwest weather. It takes something, or someone, awfully intriguing to keep me home on a Saturday night!
ReplyDeleteanother hour later in east olympia. the winds are increasing, but there's not a lot of snow - barely covering the ground.
ReplyDelete@bob. try google chrome. i've never had a problem with it on this blog. WAY better than IE or firefox.
Big white wet flakes sticking out here in the south part of Shorline/ north Seattle. 6:37 PM
ReplyDeleteYowza!
1/4" or more snow on the top of Crown Hill/Blue Ridge, and still falling. So far it's sticking. :)
ReplyDeleteHEAVY snow in Bellevue, about 750 ft. I'm a teacher and had 3 extra days of winter break, maybe I'll have another. :)
ReplyDeleteWe easily have 1.5 inches in Ravenna at the moment. My kids are tormenting me with the idea of another snow day. I sure hope you're right this turns to rain over night...
ReplyDeleteReporting from Ballard- it's coming down hard. Seems like we're closing in on 1.5 inches.
ReplyDelete29/30 and still snowing hard. 3 inches on the ground, fluffy, light flakes. Bangor/Poulsbo.
ReplyDeleteAt 6:45pm still big fat flakes in Port Madison on Bainbridge Island, which is usually last to start and first to stop in Kitsap. Surface temp is below freezing, but the snow is very sloppy, totally dissimilar to last week's dry flakes with temps nearer 20.
ReplyDeleteOlalla: Snow showed up on schedule, 3:30-ish. It's snowed steadily since then, now (1855) the flakes are small and falling fast - about to change to rain? I'd say 3 inches on the ground. Of course my thermometer still thinks it's 34...and it may be; some snow has slid off the side of the car.
ReplyDelete- Pete
I forgot to mention that I have had no readability problems at all with the blog, using Safari on a G4 Mac.
ReplyDelete- Pete
33 in Mt Baker neighborhood (SE Seattle) at 7:00 pm. The ground is covered with snow and so help me if school is cancelled!
ReplyDelete1-3/4-inches of wet stuff on the west side of Green Lake in north Seattle. I will be monitoring the rest of this evening's snow event from the K&K.
ReplyDeleteOnly getting a trace east of North Bend so far. Which is fine with me since we still have 2 feet of the old stuff on the ground!
ReplyDeleteAt least 2 inches of snow in Silverdale and still coming down pretty hard.
ReplyDeleteBig, wet flakes and 2.75 inches currently on Crown Hill. Just had a great snowball fight with the kids. Count me among the 'let it snow' crowd!
ReplyDeleteEdmonds ridge above the bowl: now 32.9 with a fat falling snow. Depth a fluffy 2 inches.
ReplyDeleteHere in Seattle, it's snowing!
ReplyDeleteThe mountain closeness phenomenon is called "Foehn" in Switzerland. Saw it many times in my years living there. I can't recall it being so vivid here before.
ReplyDeleteNormandy Park el 80 ft. - 1 to 1 and 1/2 inches of snow and still snowing at 8 PM
ReplyDelete5" drifts in open areas atop Capitol Hill in Seattle.
ReplyDelete