Pacific NW Weather

 Update/continuation on CAPE I previously posted that… In essence, CAPE is thunderstorm fuel. CAPE (convective available potential energy) is a measure of instability in the levels of the atmosphere. Typically, CAPE is measured in J/kg, which is joules per kilogram. Now, what is instability? Instability is as it sounds, an unstable airmass with large pockets of air interacting with other pockets of air and moving vertically very frequently. This creates energy, which fuels thunderstorms. These air pockets move vertically when there is a large difference in temperature as you go up in the atmosphere. That is why large supercellular thunderstorms are associated with very tall clouds, because the temperature difference is creating violent updrafts, that pulls the air upwards. Here in Washington state, thunderstorms often occur in the spring, when cold air aloft, moves over relatively warm air at the surface.  Updated portion… In hindsight, I would like to talk more about updrafts...

 Cutting employees from NOAA may be one of the worst ideas I have ever heard, and now those in power are executing that terrible idea. Earlier today DOGE, a completely unnecessary branch created by those in power who are bribed by money, greed, and are under the influence of Musk, forced NOAA to cut hundreds of employees who carry out extremely important work to help our nation run. DOGE can’t seem to wrap its minuscule brain around the fact that NOAA is a critical part of the United States. These mass layoffs will put the entire nation at risk because we will be losing valuable resources and forecasts that do everything from help us in our daily lives, to helping us prepare for natural disasters. NOAA helps save thousands of lives every year, but due to frivolous cutting from those in power, those thousands of lives may no longer be saved in the future. But since those in power only care about money and staying out of jail, this is the reality we now live in.

 Freezing rain We have all woken up to those days where the “world” is a sheet of ice. This is due to freezing rain. Freezing rain is rain the falls when the temperature is below freezing, and freezes upon contact with the ground, or whatever else it falls on. Why, you may ask, does the rain not fall as snow? This is due to cold air (below freezing) being trapped at the surface, that has a layer of warm air above it, so that the rain does not have time to turn to snow before it hits the ground. This is why freezing rain most commonly occurs when there is cold air in place, and then a warmer system rides into the area, up over the top of the cold air. It rides up over the top because due to the terrain, very cold air can be very hard to scour out at the surface. A place that gets frequent freezing rain is the Colombia river gorge, because very cold winds blow  in at the surface from the east, so when a warmer system comes in from the west, the cold is trapped at the surface. Th...

 This post will cover the forecast for the next 2 days over the Pacific Northwest. Friday, February 28 On the day Friday, a ridge of high pressure will continue to dominate our region… North Puget sound: No precipitation, very light breeze, Highs around 50, lows in the low 40’s South/Central Puget sound: No precipitation, very light breeze, Highs around 50, lows in the low 40’s Eastern Washington: No precipitation, very light breeze, highs in the low 60’s for the Columbia basin and highs in the upper 50’s elsewhere, lows in upper 30’s and low 40’s North Willamette valley: No precipitation, very light breeze, Highs in the low 60’s, lows in the low to mid 40’s South Willamette valley: No precipitation, very light breeze, highs around 70, lows around 40 degrees  Saturday, March 1st As a new month arrives, low pressure begins to draw near  North Puget sound: precipitation starting in the late afternoon, slightly breezy, highs in the mid 50’s, lows in the low 40’s South/Centra...

 Every couple days I will post about a new weather topic! They are also available on my weather topics page! Topic 2: what is CAPE? In essence, CAPE is thunderstorm fuel. CAPE (convective available potential energy) is a measure of instability in the levels of the atmosphere. Typically, CAPE is measured in J/kg, which is joules per kilogram. Now, what is instability? Instability is as it sounds, an unstable airmass with large pockets of air interacting with other pockets of air and moving vertically very frequently. This creates energy, which fuels thunderstorms. These air pockets move vertically when there is a large difference in temperature as you go up in the atmosphere. That is why large supercellular thunderstorms are associated with very tall clouds, because the temperature difference is creating violent updrafts, that pulls the air upwards. Here in Washington state, thunderstorms often occur in the spring, when cold air aloft, moves over relatively warm air at the surface. ...

 Every couple days, I will post a new weather topic! They are also available on my weather topics page. Topic 1:evaporative cooling. Evaporative cooling can occur year round, but is most common in the winter months. Evaporative cooling is when an airmass is so dry, and typically somewhat cool, that any moisture moving into that airmass typically evaporates before it hits the ground. When it evaporates, it takes heat with it, and cools the atmosphere further. For example, if the temperature is 35 and the dew point (measure of moisture in the atmosphere) is low enough, let’s say 25, the airmass may cool to around freezing (32 degrees Fahrenheit). During the temperature fall, the dew point will rise. Once they are close enough, precipitation may begin to fall, and if enough evaporative cooling takes place, it could even fall as snow. However, there is a catalyst for this reaction. The precipitation must be rather heavy and frequent, otherwise not enough can evaporate, and cool the atm...

 Showers should be wrapping up tonight, with winds slowly dying down. Expect a couple light showers Tomorrow, and then a dry next couple days before a weak frontal system moves through on the day Thursday bringing very light rain totals, and no precipitation is likely south of Olympia. Tonight will have lows in the mid to upper 30’s for the lowlands of WA, (low 40’s for Willamette valley) with highs Tomorrow reaching up towards 50-60 degrees (about 65 in Willamette valley. Then on Wednesday night expect lows around 40 for the puget sound, and 45 for the Willamette valley, and then highs similar to the day before. All in all, a nicer period of weather is coming. Thanks for reading.

 Last nights storm went, well, kind of as expected. There was a decent amount of lightning in the evening around Salem and the Willamette valley. A strong cell moved over the central puget sound, and there was some lightning with that. Later in the night into this morning  peak gusts were around 70 on the coast, with localized gusts up to 85. In the interior areas, gusts were 50-55 mph with isolated gusts up to 60 reported at Boeing field. PSE reported as of 6:15 AM, 107,000 customers were out of power, most coming from the eastern peninsula. Also, that is only PSE, so there is many others out from different energy companies also. Possibility for some more wind this morning, but winds should subside mostly by noon. I Will publish a forecast this evening. Thanks for reading.

 The National weather service has issued high wind warnings for the south puget sound from Seattle to around Olympia! Winds up to 60 mph are expected and have potential to be very damaging as our soil is very saturated from all the recent rainfall. I feel as if this will be a very boom or bust type of event. If the low pressure tracks right, this could be a storm to remember, if not it could be a big bust. I recommend taking precautions, and charging essential devices as soon as possible, because power outages are likely. Stay safe!

 The potential for a major weather event is occurring in the PNW today and tonight. Firstly, a “mini-front” will move through the area around noon, bring scattered spots of heavy precipitation. This will likely be followed by scattered heavy showers and maybe an isolated strike of lightning as we go through that afternoon hours. This is due to a large difference in temperature in the atmosphere.Now best chances for lightning are in the northern Oregon cascades, but we can’t completely rule it out elsewhere. Now, tonight the excitement begins. A large low pressure system will move up our coastline, with a strong pressure gradient on the southern side, so that is where strong winds will be. This could bring potentially damaging winds to the southern Washington and northern Oregon coast, 60-80 mph. It remains to be seen how much of this will track into the Puget Sound region, and Portland metro. Portland metro has decent model agreement of around a 50 mph gust. However, model agreemen...