August 04, 2024

Can the Pacific Northwest Experience Monsoon Conditions?

 Some TV weather folks and social media outlets have discussed monsoonal moisture hitting the Northwest.  

Such as the clouds and attendant rain hitting eastern Washington over the past few days (see satellite image from last evening).



But how can this be?   Monsoons belong in Southeast Asia, right?   Here in the Pacific Northwest?  Sure we have restaurants with the Monsoon name serving SE Asian food, but tropical meteorology seems out of place in the distinctly non-tropical Pacific Northwest.

In my new podcast, I talk about the physics of monsoons and review three examples:  The Indian/SE Asian monsoon, the West African monsoon, and the North American monsoon....the one that occasionally influences our region.

You can listen to the podcast below or through your favorite podcast server.


Some major podcast servers:

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2 comments:

  1. FriendAugust 5, 2024 at 2:15 PM

    It looks like a summer transition to La Nina is no longer in the cards. The progression of the ONI from El Nino to La Nina has slowed during the summer and now a fall transition to La Nina appears solidly favored by the latest outlooks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cliff Mass Weather BlogAugust 7, 2024 at 6:27 AM

      we are in transition. We were in El Nno. Now neutral. Soon La Nina.

      Delete

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