The First Major Rain Event of the Season. The Story of the Jet Stream. All in My Latest Podcast

Summer in the Northwest is about to end in a dramatic way.

High temperatures around 60F and a drenching rain are coming. 80+ temperatures will be history.

The latest 6-10 day forecast from the NOAA/National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center is shown below for both temperature and precipitation and should give you pause.

MUCH cooler and wetter than normal over much of the Northwest.

The forecast precipitation through 5 PM Sunday is a wet wake-up call, with several inches in the mountains and roughly a half-inch in the lowlands. The watering season may be over.

I give more details of the forecast in my podcast and I also talk about the key weather feature of our region: the jet stream.

This current of powerful winds, centered between 20,000 and 35,000 ft above the surface, is now strengthening and will be headed towards the Northwest later this week (see the forecast for 5 AM Friday below). The red and brown colors are the strongest winds.

In my podcast, I will tell you why and where the jet stream winds exist and why they are important.

And I will tell you some fascinating stories about how the jet stream influenced World War II. You can listen to the podcast below or through your favorite podcast server.

Listen here