June Gloom Comes Early

It is the transition that Northwest residents both expect and regret:   the intrusion of low-level stratus clouds into western Washington and Oregon. 

Usually occurring in late May, this year the transition came a bit early, with cloudy skies the rule today and yesterday over the western lowlands.

Below is the visible satellite image this morning.  The low clouds are stopped by the higher Cascades, and the Olympics are an island that extends above the clouds.

As an aside, the heavily irrigated eastern Washington is a sea of green.

The Seattle Panocam was well into the murk this morning (see below), and at my home in north Seattle, there was drizzle from the low clouds.

Yesterday was similar, and the high temperatures at many locations were below normal....the short heat wave is over!

As normal during our late spring June Gloom periods, the entire eastern Pacific is full of low clouds (the visible satellite image this morning is shown below)

The cool, moist marine air is only a few thousand feet deep, as shown by the temperature and dewpoint sounding at Forks, on the Washington Coast (red is temperature, green is dewpoint).  

When temperature and dewpoint are the same (in the lower portion of the sounding), the air is saturated...which means clouds!

Also note the strong inversion...temperature warming with height--above the cool air.  This inversion acts as a stable layer that prevents mixing of the low-level cool air into the atmosphere above.

Why do low clouds form in spring over the eastern Pacific?

Because of high pressure building aloft.  The weather map showing 500 hPa pressure (about 18,000 ft) for 11 AM this morning is shown below.

And at the surface:

Low-level high-pressure offshore pushes cool marine air into the westerm lowlands.  High pressure aloft creates upper-level sinking, which warms the air aloft.  This warm air creates the inversion that prevents the cool marine air from mixing with the dry air aloft.

We get stuck in this pattern for days or weeks this time of the year.   A good time for meteorologists to go on vacation.