Under the Weather

As we mark the start of December, we also mark the start of a new meteorological season. One word that aptly summarizes our meteorological fall as a whole would be wet. Let’s take a look at some of the numbers. Below shows a chart of the total rainfall over the span of September through November…

It’s been quite the November so far in the Pacific Northwest. As I’ve mentioned in previous articles, November is climatologically our wettest month of the year—but not usually this wet. Through the first 17 days of the month, Paine Field has seen 4.45 inches of rainfall, compared to the normal 2.74 inches. This ranks in…

  Yep, it’s definitely November. If you had no idea what month it was, it’s quite possible you could deduce it was November based on how much it’s been raining the past several days. In fact, besides one day of a “trace” of rain, we’ve had measurable rain every day of the month so far…

We’ve officially hit the wettest month of the year and at this point, it’s not leaving us any doubt of that fact. Actually, with the exception of two days this past weekend that were dry, our November wet weather had an early start. We’ve seen measurable rainfall at Paine Field every day since Oct. 20,…

The weather has been nothing short of active over the past week or so, hasn’t it? Depending on how much news you watch/read, you may have heard the term “bomb cyclone” thrown out at you. If you watched Sunday Night Football last week, with the 49ers playing at home against the Colts, no doubt you…

At this point in the year, we are no strangers to storms and the rain and wind that tend to come with them. If you’ve lived in Western Washington for any length of time, you are likely familiar with the idea of “storm season.” Even if you aren’t familiar with this concept, you’re about to…

It’s so crazy to believe that Halloween is just over a couple weeks away. The month of October is flying by—soon enough, winter will be right on our doorstep. It may seem like the month so far has been quite wet, and in terms of the number of days we’ve seen rain, that would be…

The month of October is so amazing—not just because my husband and I both have our birthdays toward the end of the month. It’s such an awesome time of the year—the leaves on trees are vibrant colors, the fall festivities are going full steam, and there’s a good mix of rain and sun to make…

Well, it’s been a soaker of a week, hasn’t it? At the time of writing this, it is pouring outside, also. And I absolutely am loving it. Here is a graph showing the amount of rain over the past week. Not including the soaker of a Thursday, we’ve already seen about 1.5 inches of rain…

Welcome to fall, everybody! The autumn equinox occurred on Sept. 22 at 12:20 p.m., and we have officially bid adieu to summer 2021. This past weekend, we got a fall preview with the first significant storm of the season. We got quite the show with rain, wind and thunderstorms—the perfect trifecta of fall weather. At Paine…

I’m not going to lie—I’ve been waiting for this day for a while. I’ve been waiting for the opportunity to write about an actual storm. To make things even better, this storm is expected to be a trifecta of excitement, complete with copious rain, wind and even the potential for thunderstorms. Let’s get right to…

Students in the Edmonds School District went back to school on Wednesday; that really helps to solidify that summer is on its way out. Fall is coming but it is still technically astronomical summer—and weather-wise, it feels like it. We’re still seeing those sunny days! I know for me that it doesn’t truly feel like…

Fall is here! Well, at least for meteorologists and the weather community—we still technically have a few more weeks of “traditional” or astronomical summer. We finished out the meteorological season with a 3.19 inches of rainfall, compared to the normal 3.71 inches. As I mentioned last week, this is a lot closer to normal than…

It’s hard to believe that September is just around the corner. Next Wednesday marks the start of a new month and in the meteorological community, it marks the start of a new season. It’s been quite the summer thus far. One word predominantly describes most of our summer: dry. Below shows a graph of the…

We made it through another heat wave! This one was not nearly as bad as the one we saw toward the end of June, but it still definitely packed a punch, especially considering the added blow of wildfire smoke. The warmest of the days was Friday, maxing out at 91 degrees at Paine Field. This…

Apparently, we just couldn’t go without another heat wave in our area. I guess one wasn’t enough. The heat is back, but this time with an added kicker—smoke. Below is a visible satellite image from Thursday (8/12) afternoon. You can see the haze over us from wildfire smoke. At the time of writing this, wildfire…

The month of July is officially a wrap, and two words would adequately describe the month’s weather: dry and warm. We ended the month with a mere 0.01 inches of measurable rainfall at Paine Field, tying for second place for the lowest amount of rainfall for the month of July. First place belongs to 2017, which only…

Wednesday, July 28, we officially hit an 80-plus-degree high at Paine Field for the first time since early July. This really helps show that after that miserable bout with temperatures that should never get remotely close to Western Washington, things have been quite comfortable for most of this month. It’s been very dry, as has…

On Tuesday, something very special happened. OK, maybe not so much — but notable nonetheless. At Paine Field, the 34-day dry streak officially came to an end with a whopping 0.01 inches of rain. Some places — such as Sea-Tac airport — saw a little bit of drizzle, but according to the official records, there…

We have now reached the one-month mark since we’ve seen measurable rainfall at Paine Field. It is definitely dry in many places across the West Coast, and wildfires have already begun to spread. Take a look at the visible satellite image below. I circled just some of the areas where wildfires are currently burning, which…

I’m back! A lot has happened these past couple weeks, namely one of the strongest heat waves we’ve ever seen in Western Washington. Believe me, I definitely felt the heat—and so did my husband. We had to take wedding photos outside at the beginning of the worst of the heat, donned in our full wedding…

For the sun lovers out there, the moment you have been waiting for is just around the corner: The first day of summer is on Sunday. Schools are starting to get out after a roller-coaster year, so this summer may feel a little extra special. And, to make matters even better (or worse, depending on…

We’ve had our share of pleasant days over the course of the month thus far, but in our typical June fashion, we’ve also our share of not-so-pleasant days. Through June 9, we are sitting at 1.19 inches of rainfall at Paine Field. As you can see in the graph below, this is above the average…

Happy (meteorological) summer, everybody! It’s definitely felt like summer the past couple days, especially to those who don’t have air conditioning. Here is a snapshot of the temperatures over the past several days. We reached our first official 80-degree day of the season at Paine Field on Tuesday. Not only that, but we also set…

May is just about wrapped up and meteorological summer is just around the corner—officially starting June 1. It’s hard to believe that summer is nearly here… and that 2021 is almost half over! In my eyes, Memorial Day oftentimes signals that summer is upon us, and here we are. The final storm of May passed…