My new podcast is out.
In it I provide a detailed forecast for this weekend plus describe the key summer weather feature of the Pacific Northwest: the onshore push of marine air, sometimes called the marine push.
You can listen to my podcast below or use your favorite streaming service.
The marine air really surged in last night, with low clouds over central Puget Sound this morning (see below). The low clouds will melt away this afternoon, leaving plenty of sunshine on both sides of the Cascades.
But tonight a front will cross western Washington, bring showers overnight and much cooler air behind. A potent Puget Sound Convergence Zone should form over the central to northern Puget Sound area tomorrow afternoon (see precipitation forecast for 2 PM)--so head north or south of it if you want to be dry. Showers along the coat and generally dry in eastern WA
And then a more potent front with much more rain arrives Sunday afternoon....so get in your walk, run, or outdoor activity during the AM hours. The 24-h total ending 5 AM Monday is quite impressive for this time of the year (see below). Very welcome.
Finally, I will be having a special zoom session for my Patreon supporters, tomorrow, June 5th at 10 AM. I will talk about weather satellite technology and answer your questions. All of you Patreon folks will be getting an invitation.
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Here is my podcast:
Many years ago the Seattle Times, in cooperation with the NWS, published a chart on how to predict whether a marine layer would form,and its strength and daily duration.This was based on the North Bend Oregon to Seattle pressure gradients(in milibars) at 2PM.I'm sure the science has been refined even more in the 30 years or so when this information was originally published.It would be nice to have the chart updated and republished by you,the NWS, or someone in the local weather community.It was quite accurate,and very useful,especially to boaters.
ReplyDeleteYou have a good memory! Yes...that was start of art 30 years ago...at least for the next 24 h. Today, models are really, really good for predicting onshore push initiation and evolution...cliff
ReplyDeleteI love how you explain the weather, and especially how you include eastern Washington!
ReplyDeleteLove your podcast, and the subject matter. The best part of heat waves, especially the more oppressive ones, is the sudden surge of marine air.
ReplyDeleteIt should also be acknowledged that in July and August, the coast is almost always stuck between 60 and 70(except on the hottest of days).
And thanks for explaining the hazy sky. Now I’ll look for that next heat wave.
I learned something today, how thermal troughs are created. I thought they came from south and moved up.
ReplyDeleteAlso, living In Port Townsend, the marine push is a daily occurrence in the summer with afternoon breezes cooling things off,(no warm summer evenings here). When it's 90+ in Seattle, we might hit 78 if were lucky.
Very seldom ,(1-2 times a year),when there's a super strong offshore flow, do we avoid the cold breeze coming down the strait. PT is a great place if you like cooler weather, but unfortunately I love heat, so we end up in eastern Wa. or Oregon for summer vacations
Speaking of model outputs -- what do you think of mobile phone apps that let you download and view a 'grib' file?
ReplyDeleteI enjoy your podcasts. Thank you for producing them.
ReplyDeleteHowever I have some hearing loss and that makes listening difficult. You have a tendency to lower pitch and volume at the end of a sentence or phrase so I miss those phrases. Also you tend to lower volume on less important words. I see 2 ways that you could help people in my situation. 1) You could make some effort to change speech to not lower pitch and volume as much. I know this is hard for anyone to do and I'd appreciate your efforts. 2) You could make a transcript available.
I didn't empty my gauge before the weekend, but I have a rough idea what the sprinklers in the garden had put in it before the rain started, and we got at least 2 inches over the last 3 days - well above the 0.5-0.75 inches that was forecast for my location.
ReplyDeleteI know my area got more than much of the rest of the state, but still, everywhere west of the mountains got a nice top-up of soil moisture going into the dry season.
Which is perfectly normal this time of year - SeaTac usually gets 1.45" in June, and as of today, they're 1/3 of the way there.
There is enough forecast for the upcoming week to get the rest of the way there, plus a respectable sprinkling over much of the eastern half of the state (~1/4").
I wonder how soon before the Seattle Times prints their next dire-sound article about this year's "drought."