Under the Weather

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,…

According to the calendar, it still is technically winter, but it definitely felt more like spring than winter in the past few days. With the exception of some pop-up convective showers in some places, we have been predominantly dry since Sunday. In fact, at Paine Field, there has been no measurable rainfall since Sunday. This…

In the eyes of meteorologists, it is finally spring. Although astronomical spring doesn’t begin for a couple more weeks, meteorological spring officially arrived on Monday. I don’t know about you, but it definitely felt like spring on Wednesday. What a gorgeous day! Just for fun, let’s take a look back at our meteorological winter as…

Another week of winter down, another week closer to spring! Although astronomical spring (traditional seasons) begins on March 20, meteorological spring actually begins on Monday. You can read more about the differences between astronomical and meteorological seasons here. For those counting down the days until summer, this is likely music to your ears. We are getting…

How about that snow this past weekend? I honestly couldn’t stop grinning—it was just so pretty! Even though it was an amazing sight to see, it did cause a lot of problems, primarily for people trying to get around on the roads. I braved the streets Saturday night, and I was basically driving on a…

A couple weeks ago, I wrote these words: “Don’t lose hope just yet if you want to see snow in the lowlands this winter—we still have February! I may or may not be rooting for a repeat performance of February 2019.” Lo and behold, I may be getting my wish. By now, most of you…

It’s hard to believe that we are already over a month into 2021—where does the time go? And in terms of weather, one word describes the year so far quite well: wet. In last week’s article, I mentioned how I was interested as to where the month of January would rank in terms of total…

Well, as you could probably tell, besides a few stray snowflakes that fell Tuesday night, it didn’t snow. Sorry, fellow snow-lovers. The ingredients just did not all come together like they needed to. So far, the snowfall for our area has been almost abysmal—with the only accumulating snowfall of the season (albeit very minimal) falling…

The sight of that four-letter word tends to bring either excitement or dread to those here in the Pacific Northwest. Let’s face it: Snow can be a huge disruption to our daily lives. February 2019 was an excellent example of that. Because of the impact it can have, people pay a little extra attention to…

2021 continues throwing us for a loop in terms of weather, doesn’t it? The rain keeps piling up, and to make things interesting, we had a decent windstorm thrown into the mix. Through the first 13 days of the year, Paine Field has accumulated a whopping 5.36 inches of rainfall—a staggering 14.87% of the normal…

We are already a week into 2021, and what a soggy start to the year it’s been! I love the rain, and even I was starting to think it was a little much. If you were thinking the same thing, you are not wrong—it has rained a lot. Let’s take a look at the numbers….

Well, everybody, we finally did it. We made it through 2020. A lot has happened this year, but I hope that everyone is able to find something to be grateful for as we head into the new year. In terms of precipitation, Paine Field wraps up the year just slightly above average, with the normal…