Weather with Cliff Mass

The Northwest can get big windstorms associated with Pacific cyclones, with the strongest equivalent to category 1 or 2 hurricanes in wind speed and damage potential.  In this blog, I will talk about our windstorms and tell you about some of the most memorable.   I will also give you the forecast, including an optimistic view for Thanksgiving Day.

During the next few days there is going to be heavy snow in the mountains and breezy/wet conditions in the lowlands.  Normal for this time of the year.  The latest model forecasts suggest the potential for a major windstorm later on Tuesday, but it it is too early to be certain about this!

My second segment today will look ahead to the winter.  It looks like a strong La Nina is in place and that means lots of snow in mountains and cooler/wetter than normal in the lowlands.  A good year to bet on a season's pass at your favorite ski area!

There has been, literally, a 180 degree change in our weather, with warm, moist southerly flow replaced by cool, drier air from the north.  Sixty degree temperatures are probably over the the season.  I will describe the cool, windy future weather of this weekend and look ahead to the rest of the week.

In my second segment I answer the most asked question I receive:  where can one get the best forecast?   Which group provides the most skillful predictions?  All will be revealed in my podcast!

In this episode,  I give the important election week weather forecast--and I am not going to speculate on which party it will favor!   This week, Hurricane Zeta hit the Gulf Coast.  Why doesn't the West Coast get hurricanes?    You will will learn the cold truth on this podcast.

In this episode, I talk about the active weather we will experience this weekend, including strong winds, mountain and eastern WA snow, as well as cold temperatures.  This weather will be startling to many.   And in the second segment, I will tell you why it is so hard to get snow in western Washington and will reveal the rare weather situation that allows snow to reach to sea level, west of the Cascade crest.   

After a blustery Friday, expect a cool weekend with some showers on Sunday morning.  But one thing has NOT been cool is the low temperatures we have experienced each morning.  For over a month, our low temperatures have been 5-8F above normal.  Why?  It turns out that  the feared BLOB of warm eastern Pacific temperatures have returned and that warm water is keeping our temperatures toasty at night.  In the second segment of my podcast I will tell you all you need about the BLOB and why it strengthened over the summer.

The weather is about to change in a big way, and I will talk about heavy rain, wind, thunderstorms and mountain snows that will impact our region over the weekend and beyond.  And then I will turn to talking about the jet stream, the strong current of winds in the upper atmosphere that has a huge impact on aviation, storms and more.  Why do jet streams exist?  Who discovered them?  All will be revealed in this podcast.

I start with with forecast, noting our foggy mornings, and describe the dry period ahead.  And you will learn about the future of our smoke.  In the second segment I tell you why we are in the middle of the Northwest fog season.  You will be fog knowledgeable when I am done!

I start with the forecast, discussing an atmospheric river bringing heavy rain today, followed by drying over the weekend and the development of big ridge and warm/dry weather during the week.  Temperatures rising to near 80F by mid-weedk.

Then in my second segment, I give you a short course on  atmospheric rivers--what are they are why are they so important for NW weather.

Let's jump right in to the current weather situation with your weekend forecast (expect major improvement in the smoke situation on Saturday). In my special segment I will describe how smoke forecasts are made and why our models ran into trouble during the past week.