Professional integrity and honesty should be a priority.
Providing the public with accurate information on an important public issue should be paramount.
But when it comes to issues dealing with climate, the Seattle Times has descended into advocacy, hype, and exaggeration, unsupported by facts and actual science.
Articles written by the Seattle Times Climate Lab, which receives financial support from climate advocacy groups, are the most concerning, as illustrated by the deceptive, unfactual article published yesterday.
The article, How bad is Washington's summer drought going to get?, starts with a large picture of a major reservoir (Lake Keechelus)--see below
The picture shows a completely empty lake, and the legend describes a "depleted Lake Keechelus" and that this total lack of water is a "familiar scene."
Totally deceptive and wrong. The truth is that the lake is nearly full, as shown by an image total from a WSDOT cam:
Don't believe your eyes? The official measurements of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation indicate the lake was 95% full two days ago (it is now 96%):
Still not convinced? Below is a plot of this year's lake level (blue line) versus normal (red line).
Lake levels are now WAY above normal....in fact, exceeding the normal maximum levels in early summer. So high, reservoir managers reduced the level a bit to avoid flooding.
So the headline claim of the article was wrong...and they had to know this.
I am hardly warming up regarding the ST tall tales. Much of the article is factually wrong.
For example, it tells us:
"This summer is expected to be especially hot and dry, too, Mellor pointed out. El Niño conditions are moving in from the tropics."
This is nonsensical. We are still in a La Niña (see below), and the transition to Neutral and then El Niño conditions will only occur during the summer.
Blue colors indicate temperatures below normal
Even more important, Northwest summer precipitation has very little correlation with El Niño and La Niña--even if it were in place.
This figure from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, which shows the precipitation anomalies from normal for an El Niño summer, shows this clearly.
Don't believe NOAA and only trust online AI? Here is what Gemini gave me:
Key Correlations & Current Trends
Weak Summer Link: Meteorologists note that El Niño does not have as significant an impact on the region in the spring and summer as it does in winter.
Lack of water for hydropower?
Then the article warns about the lack of water for Seattle hydropower, and particularly the Ross Reservoir. Turns out both rainfall and snowfall have been relatively healthy in the North Cascades this winter, and the reservoir level is now much higher than the previous year (see below). I note that the Ross Reservoir almost filled last year (see below).
Seattle's power generation will have sufficient water!
Perhaps the writer of the Seattle Times scare piece should have checked the best long-term forecasts.
Here is the latest prediction of summer precipitation from the best (European Center). WETTER THAN NORMAL OVER WESTERN AND FAR EASTERN Washington. Normal for the rest.
The Seattle Times is failing our community, providing demonstrably false information regarding climate change. Hyping and exaggerating climate threats.
Providing such wrong information is hurting our community, resulting in very poor decision-making, including the waste of billions of dollars (e.g., the CCA).
This March has been very wet over the western side of Washington State.
How wet? Read on.
At Bellingham (through March 29), it has been the wettest March of ALL TIME....going back to 1950... with roughly 6.5 inches.
No wonder that the I5 is closed just south of Bellingham due to landslides:
Seattle has had the sixth-wettest March since the late 1940s (below). This is in stark contrast to the past several years.
The latest NOAA soil moisture analysis indicates that western Washington has the highest soil moisture in the nation.
What about the difference from normal of our current soil moisture? Are these values unusual? The following map shows the differences from normal (in mm). Western Washington and the Cascades have wetter-than-normal soils.
Tuesday will be dry, but another wet system will come in on Wednesday and early Thursday.
The forecast total through Friday morning shows substantial precipitation across the region, with the heaviest amounts exactly where they are needed over western Oregon.
And this system will be cool enough that substantial snow will fall over the Oregon Cascades, where it is really needed.
Good news for water resources and for those who like it damp:
