Under the Weather

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…

We are one month away from the start of summer (even less if you consider meteorological summer, which starts June 1)—time has just flown by! Some of you are probably already counting down the days. Usually, spring in this area is characterized by showers, but this year, those showers have been more sporadic and not…

The month of May thus far has been nice and dry, with very little in the way of rain. So far, we’ve only seen 0.24 inches of rainfall compared to the average of 0.88 inches by this time of the month. This doesn’t seem like a huge difference, but if you look beyond the month,…

We have officially reached the month of May—the year is just flying by, isn’t it? Summer is just about a month and a half away! Overall, the month of April ended up being quite nice. It was drier than average, in terms of both the total sum of precipitation and the number of days with…

Spring is in full swing in Western Washington, with a healthy dose of sun and showers that has a little something for everyone to enjoy. Showers are not uncommon for this time of the year (ever heard the phrase “April showers bring May flowers”?), but it’s always a nice bonus when the sun peaks out….

Those who have been yearning for spring finally got their wish this past week. It’s been absolutely gorgeous, hasn’t it? We’ve seen high temperatures in the 70s for multiple days—something that is not super common in the month of April. In fact, using data from Paine Field, I found out that 2021 is currently tied…

There’s no mistaking that spring has arrived now—it’s been absolutely gorgeous these past few days! But the best is yet to come. As I discussed in last week’s article, an upper ridge of high pressure is responsible for our nice weather. The way this ridge is positioned with adjacent troughs is known as an omega…

It kind of seems like our seasons just can’t make up their mind right now, doesn’t it? We have a couple days of sun, then the rain returns again. Temperatures get close to 60 one day before tumbling again into low 50s or upper 40s the next. Thankfully, it’s looking like we will see our…

It’s hard to believe that April is already here—we’re already a quarter of the way through 2021. That just blows my mind. The month of March ended up being slightly below average in terms of temperatures, with our first 60-degree day of the year occurring on March 13. The total amount of precipitation for the…

Spring has officially sprung! After daylight saving time, we’ve also added an extra hour of daylight—it’s amazing what that additional hour can do, isn’t it? It really is starting to feel like spring. Since the start of meteorological spring, we are running a little bit behind normal in terms of precipitation; as of March 24,…

For those of you that are so ready for winter to be over, the weekend you have been looking for is just about here. Astronomical spring officially starts on Saturday! We’ve gotten a tease the past few days of what weather to expect more of in the coming weeks. It’s been a gorgeous few days,…