Sunday morning update: SEA how has 8.01 inches, 1.10 inches below the record Feb total.
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People love records. And precipitation records are falling over the West Coast.
Here is Seattle, the record February precipitation is 9.11 inches, which fell in 1961.
As of midnight, Seattle Tacoma Airport had 7.85 inches so far this month.
Since then, Sea Tac got another .07 inches, so we are now at 7.92 inches or 1.19 inches behind the record. A plot of actual (red) and average (blue) cumulative precipitation at Seattle shows the story...we are about 6 inches ahead of normal now.
Looking at the forecasts, we have a very good chance exceed this. For example, here is the precipitation forecasts for Seattle from the European Center ensemble and high-resolution models. 1.3 inches for the ensemble and 1.7 inches for the high resolution forecast. If true, the record is toast.
Or the UW WRF forecast for the 72 hr starting at 4 AM this morning. The purple color is more than 1.28 inches.... very close. And there is more rain after that.
So the chances are very good that a new February rainfall record will be set at Seattle Tacoma Airport and a number of other western WA locations.
All this precipitation has caused our soils to become highly saturated, resulting in mudslides and slope failures, such as the one that closed down I-90 near Issaquah and another that closed I-5 near Woodlawn (see below).
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Northwest Weather Workshop:
The Northwest Weather Workshop, the big annual weather gathering in the Northwest, will take place on March 3-4, 2017 in Seattle (NOAA Sand Point Facility). Everyone is welcome. For more information and to register, go to https://www.atmos.washington.edu/pnww/
________
People love records. And precipitation records are falling over the West Coast.
Here is Seattle, the record February precipitation is 9.11 inches, which fell in 1961.
As of midnight, Seattle Tacoma Airport had 7.85 inches so far this month.
Since then, Sea Tac got another .07 inches, so we are now at 7.92 inches or 1.19 inches behind the record. A plot of actual (red) and average (blue) cumulative precipitation at Seattle shows the story...we are about 6 inches ahead of normal now.
Looking at the forecasts, we have a very good chance exceed this. For example, here is the precipitation forecasts for Seattle from the European Center ensemble and high-resolution models. 1.3 inches for the ensemble and 1.7 inches for the high resolution forecast. If true, the record is toast.
All this precipitation has caused our soils to become highly saturated, resulting in mudslides and slope failures, such as the one that closed down I-90 near Issaquah and another that closed I-5 near Woodlawn (see below).
___________
Northwest Weather Workshop:
The Northwest Weather Workshop, the big annual weather gathering in the Northwest, will take place on March 3-4, 2017 in Seattle (NOAA Sand Point Facility). Everyone is welcome. For more information and to register, go to https://www.atmos.washington.edu/pnww/
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