Intense Rain

If any of your were around downtown (Or U District as I was) you might have noticed that downpour of rain around 12 o'clock that even drenched the ducks at Drumheller fountain. It was a very sudden onset of very intense rain and the radar picture is a classic image of a typical Midwest front (yes, Mid-West, not Northwest).

The yellows are some very noticeable (intense) rainfall and the red is raining cats and dogs, very very heavy rain and probably hail. That "line" of heavy rain there is a classic representation of a front and actually, that back edge where there is no rain, the boundary between the rain and lack of it is where the front lies. It's pretty neat to see it in radar around here because it is typically quite hard to see it.

Now that wasn't the only rain from yesterday that bumped up the total rain in the guage yesterday. In fact, we broke a record at Sea-Tac yesterday with 1.47" of rain, a daily record. Today's record (the 10th) is only .87" and were are up to .48" already this morning at 8:54 as i'm writing this. I think it is possible we break another record today. But last night another round of rain moved in that I found quite impressive.

I happened to be going to bed around this time and lets just say I was awakened a few times during the night. This is probably the rain that pushed us over the record yesterday and bumped up our total rainfall for today just this morning.

We can expect a brief lull in between systems this afternoon as most of the rain is done, but the wind will continue through this afternoon. It will be breezy around the sound and some stronger winds in the Northwest Interior and the San Juans. That was Storm #3 last night in a series of 10 STORMS that are aimed at us over the next 2 weeks. Friday looks like the calmest day of the week with just scattered showers and some sun-breaks. Friday night is when Storm #4 moves in and #5 is expected Sunday. Scattered showers Saturday and Monday and #7 is aimed for Tuesday. Now the 10 Storm scenario was made with some longer range forecast that I'll call "unreliable" at that length (15 days). Not that the data is wrong, but it is extremely hard right now to forecast that far out (In a decade, maybe it won't be that hard to do). But for now #8 may scoot south. It still looks quite wet though

Storm Season Beginning

It is the beginning of storm season throughout the country. The fight between Winter and Spring usually brings a few episodes of lightning and hail here in the Northwest but for many parts of the country, this time of year can be deadly. Thunderstorms, hail, strong winds, and tornadoes are a common occurrence in the Midwest right now and in the months to come. The National Weather Service does a great job forecasting the possibility of such storms but they are often random in location within a large, broader spectrum of a warning. Now I am no expert on these storms, but they certainly spark my interest.

A few reports today, scattered around parts of Texas, can illustrate this dangerous weather ahead. There were 3 tornado reports today including one where a tornado just briefly touched down and ripped apart a barn in Texas. Another was reported to have overturned a few trailers, moved a semi truck onto a car, ripped down power lines, and create damage to roofs of homes nearby.

Today was just a small outbreak. There are still Tornado warnings up as I’m writing this but once the season really starts going and we get a more moisture rich portion of the south and much more heating, there can be reports of tens of tornado’s across the country in a day.

Tornado season OFFICIALLY begins in May

Difference Between "Rain" and "Showers"

Today may be a very example to distinguish the difference between what many forecasters call rain and showers.
KOMO4 news has a good FAQ section for a lot of the weird weather we have around here in the northwest (it is also where I work as an intern :) ) including a good presentation of what showers and rain look like on radar http://www.komonews.com/weather/faq/4308002.html .

In essence, rain is more widespread and showers are more scattered. You may have heard the term a "front" before and when we get a front from the Pacific moving through, we experience rain. We are special here on the West coast. When these fronts pass by, the air behind it is very unstable. A stable environment would be warmer air OVER colder air, the colder air being more dense and wanting to stay below the warmer air. An unstable environment is very common over the ocean because the ocean mediates the air temperature up a few thousand feet. So what you get is colder air OVER the warmer air. This is unstable and would induce "mixing" in the atmosphere with the colder air wanting to sink and the warmer air wanting to rise. This scenario also creates clouds. So when the fronts move through, West Coast cities are left with clouds, instability, and showers. Around other parts of the country? The air behind fronts (cold fronts is the main focus) is very STABLE with cold and dry air behind. They don't get showers after fronts. Typically it's quite clear (don't be too jealous, they also get thunder, hail, and tornadoes, more on why that is in another blog).

Take advantage of these "shower" days because they are typically short lived and there is sun in between :)

Pacific Storm

A strong and vigorous low pressure system is strengthening as we speak out over the Pacific and will continue to get stronger over the next 24 hours. As it does so it will move Northward towards the northern tip of Vancouver Island. This is crucial because although this track creates havoc for the coasts along Oregon and Washington, this is a much less intense storm for inland Washington. High wind warnings are up for the coast for gusts to 70mph along the southern portion of WA coast and gusts to 60mph for the central and northern coastlines. Inland we could see winds from 20-35 and gusts to 50 up north into the San Juans and norther interior  but the Seattle Metro and sound areas will only be dealing with winds gusting to near 40-45mph. Not extremely damaging.

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