Major Update: As of last night, Seattle now has exceeded the ALL TIME record for October 1 to April 30 precipitation. The amount so far? 44.67 inches.
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It is the JAWS of Pacific moisture plumes. And it is now reaching our shores.
Today's satellite imagery is stunning... a wide plume of moisture stretching across the entire Pacific Ocean and headed for the Pacific Northwest. Let me show you.
First, a visible satellite image --what you would see from space--showing a continuous band of clouds, 1000 miles wide, stretching from the western Pacific to just off our coast. Scary.
Next, an infrared image, which shows the temperature of the clouds (or surface), with white indicating high/cold clouds. Similar thing.
We can also measure wave vapor using the microwave part of the spectrum, and here is a global viewpoint from that wavelength. The moisture plume (at midnight Sunday/Monday) can be traced all the way back to the northern Philippines, 6600 miles away! Moisture from the subtropics and tropics is coming to us!
As I noted in my previous blog, this is a relatively unusual situation for late April and ground zero for landfall of this moisture will be the Oregon coast. As it rises over NW terrain, substantial precipitation will be observed. For example, the 72h total precipitation ending at 5 PM Wednesday, brings 2-5 inches over the Oregon Cascades and the coastal mountains. Importantly, northern CA gets heavy precipitation, which is quite rare in late April.
The latest European Center forecast for total precipitation through Thursday AM shows a very wet Pacific Northwest.
You really want to get depressed? Here is a count of the number of days with precipitation over the past 30 days. Western Washington is a sunless disaster area.
The complaints about this winter's clouds and rain have been deafening; perhaps it was contribute to large migration back to California and relieve the housing situation in the Puget Sound region. I was wondering why traffic has been greater southbound on I5...perhaps our weather is coming to our rescue, sending the high-tech hordes back to the sun-drenched Bay area.
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How will Northwest Weather Change Under Global Warming? Help Us Determine the Local Impacts of Climate Change
Society needs to know the regional impacts of climate change and several of us at the UW are trying to provide this information with state-of-the-art high resolution climate modeling. With Federal funding unavailable, we are experimenting with a community funding to build this effort. If you want more information or are interested in helping, please go here. The full link is: https://uw.useed.net/projects/822/home All contributions to the UW are tax deductible.
__________________________
It is the JAWS of Pacific moisture plumes. And it is now reaching our shores.
Today's satellite imagery is stunning... a wide plume of moisture stretching across the entire Pacific Ocean and headed for the Pacific Northwest. Let me show you.
First, a visible satellite image --what you would see from space--showing a continuous band of clouds, 1000 miles wide, stretching from the western Pacific to just off our coast. Scary.
Next, an infrared image, which shows the temperature of the clouds (or surface), with white indicating high/cold clouds. Similar thing.
Or an image from the water vapor channel, showing the emission of radiation from water vapor. Even more impressive, with clear evidence that some of the water vapor plume has reached our coast.
We can also measure wave vapor using the microwave part of the spectrum, and here is a global viewpoint from that wavelength. The moisture plume (at midnight Sunday/Monday) can be traced all the way back to the northern Philippines, 6600 miles away! Moisture from the subtropics and tropics is coming to us!
As I noted in my previous blog, this is a relatively unusual situation for late April and ground zero for landfall of this moisture will be the Oregon coast. As it rises over NW terrain, substantial precipitation will be observed. For example, the 72h total precipitation ending at 5 PM Wednesday, brings 2-5 inches over the Oregon Cascades and the coastal mountains. Importantly, northern CA gets heavy precipitation, which is quite rare in late April.
The complaints about this winter's clouds and rain have been deafening; perhaps it was contribute to large migration back to California and relieve the housing situation in the Puget Sound region. I was wondering why traffic has been greater southbound on I5...perhaps our weather is coming to our rescue, sending the high-tech hordes back to the sun-drenched Bay area.
_______________________
How will Northwest Weather Change Under Global Warming? Help Us Determine the Local Impacts of Climate Change
Society needs to know the regional impacts of climate change and several of us at the UW are trying to provide this information with state-of-the-art high resolution climate modeling. With Federal funding unavailable, we are experimenting with a community funding to build this effort. If you want more information or are interested in helping, please go here. The full link is: https://uw.useed.net/projects/822/home All contributions to the UW are tax deductible.
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