La Niña

The U.S. Climate Prediction Center has just upgraded the status from a La Nina Watch to a La Nina Advisory. It was hard to copy/paste that without laughing a little.

Winter forecast: wetter and colder for us, warmer and drier for the SE.

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/09/latest-on-la-nina.html

Hot in the day, cold at night

There's a big difference between the daytime high and the nighttime low temps. This is due to longer nights and clear skys.

This may or may not be good for vineyards, depending on who you ask.

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/09/large-diurnal-temperature-range.html

Hotest spot in the NW

Is the Hanford reservation, but not due to the reactor. It's because there are no irrigated fields.

(Hottest spot in the world is in Iran)

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-is-warmest-place-on-earth-warmest.html

More warmth in the NW. More hurricanes in that other part of the country that isn't the NW so who cares?

Also, there are forest fires now.

Fog and Fox

There's more fog in autumn because of...

* Longer nights, allowing more time for the air to cool to saturation (the dew point)
* Relatively clear skies, since the storm season has not arrived yet. Clear skies allows infrared radiation to escape, causing more cooling.
* A relatively stable atmosphere, and fog loves stability.

Also, Fox News is dumb.

Also also, my new segment on KPLU starts Friday at 9 AM.

Not-so-dry Seattle (soon)

Big ups to the new coastal radar for the heads up: much of the region should see significant rain in the next 24hrs. Thank you Coastdar!

Dry Seattle

Over the past 4 weeks, Seattle has had less rain than Phoenix, Austin, and Las Vegas. Luckily, we've had few wildfires.

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2011/08/northwest-drought.html