Under the Weather

Be careful what you wish for! Up to this point, the main weather complaint I’ve heard regarding weather is that people wished that it would start to warm up. After all, we’ve only had two 70-degree days on the books at Paine Field this year, both of which occurred at the end of April. Climatologically,…

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but at the time of writing this on Thursday evening, it’s sunny… and warm! If you pay any attention to weather (and if you’re reading this, I’d think you do), you’ve probably heard that it’s supposed to be nice this weekend. I know it’s been a hot topic (pun…

Besides a couple sporadic spring-like days, it hasn’t felt too much like spring so far, especially over the month of April. Whoever coined the adage “April showers brings May flowers” has been spot on — at least for the first half of the phrase. For the first 19 days of the month, we’ve had 2.1…

There isn’t a better holiday than Easter that signals springtime — bright colors, outdoor egg hunts, outdoor family gatherings in the sunshine… Many typical Easter festivities require the weather to cooperate. No one wants to go to an egg hunt where their children get drenched in the process, after all. Unfortunately, if you have any…

We are officially in the month of April. If that doesn’t shock you a bit, how about I put it another way: We’re a quarter of the way through 2023 — and that’s no joke! April is the time of year when the weather can have a hard time picking a season. Sometimes it can’t…

All those heavy laden and weary from winter — rejoice! The burden has been lifted: spring is here! Winter is now in the books, so let’s take a look at the precipitation totals for the astronomical season, which is what most people think of when they hear the word “season” (when compared to meteorological seasons)….

We had another taste of wintry weather this week, but it was quite short-lived. To illustrate this, the following two photos were taken just over 24 hours apart: In the Bothell area, I didn’t officially measure, but it seemed as if we had a little over an inch of snow on some surfaces (thankfully not…

We’ve passed the halfway point in the month of February, and so far, we are an inch behind average for precipitation at Paine Field. We’ve seen 0.7 inches of measurable rainfall through the first 15 days of the month, with the average being 1.7 inches. Since 1999, this year’s rainfall total for the first 15…

It’s hard to believe, but Valentine’s Day is just around the corner — it snuck up on us, didn’t it? If you are celebrating, hopefully your preparations are well-underway! In honor of the holiday, let’s take a quick peek at the climatology at Paine Field for Feb. 14. The record high daily precipitation is a…

We ended the month of January on a dry note, but not before we amassed 3.95 inches of rain at Paine Field. This was very close to normal, ending just 0.06 inches above average. The first couple days of February have continued in this dry pattern but — in the typical Northwest winter fashion —…

We’re already about to wrap up the month of January — that’s right, we’re almost one-twelfth of the way through 2023. Time to start preparing for 2024… just kidding. Over the past week or so, the rate of rainfall at Paine Field has slowed down from what we have seen for most of the month….

It’s already over halfway through January — time is just flying by, isn’t it? At this time of the year, we’re no strangers to pretty consistent rainfall. After all, climatologically speaking, January is the third-wettest month of the year. So far this month, we’ve been living up to that standard. We had a slow start…

Happy New Year, everyone! The start of 2023 has been relatively dry thus far, but as we head into the first full weekend of the year, the rain is expected to pick up thanks to a train of several systems headed our way. Compared to what we saw toward the end of December, these storms…

The month of December has given us quite a bit of excitement this year. We’ve had significant snowfall, rainfall, wind and even a historic freezing rain event. I don’t ever recall seeing what I saw last Friday with the freezing rain. When I stepped outside, it was literally like stepping onto an ice rink. Even…

Happy winter, everyone! We’ve officially passed the winter solstice, also known as the shortest day of the year, signaling the start of astronomical winter. And boy, has it felt like winter around here for the past several days. You can just take a step outside and it shocks you a little bit at how cold…

The words “snow” and “Christmas” oftentimes go together like “peanut butter” and “jelly” unless you live in Western Washington — then they are more like the words “oil” and “water.” If you’ve lived in the area for any length of time, you know to not hold your breath for that “white Christmas” (which is meteorologically…

** Note: this is an abridged forecast article ** A rather robust system is impacting us at the time of writing this (Friday evening). Radar indicates widespread and, in some places, heavy rainfall for much of Western Washington. Showers are expected to continue at times through Saturday as this front moves through. By Sunday, a…

It’s been quite the interesting couple of days in Southwest Snohomish County. It’s not very often that we get a snow day in November, let alone one that was responsible for so many problems throughout the area. I was in south Everett on Tuesday night and the road conditions were quite treacherous driving home —…

I hope everyone had an amazing Thanksgiving and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It turned out to be quite the nice day — perhaps you were able to go outside and walk off all that turkey. The month of November is quickly moving by, and December is right on our doorstep. Ever since our wet start,…

Much of Western Washington had a wet start to the month of November, but since that atmospheric river, not much rain has fallen. This is abnormal — usually the month of November is our rainiest month of the year. The image below shows the total accumulated precipitation at KPAE for this month so far. You…

It has been quite the interesting week for weather in Western Washington. We’ve seen rain, flooding, thunder, hail, wind and snow — just to name a few. I want to recap a couple of these different events, starting with the rain. We are going to broaden the scope a bit more than usual, focusing on…

Ahh, fall. All just feels right in the Pacific Northwest, doesn’t it? Colorful leaves are falling, temperatures are cooling down, the rain is back… perfection. On average, November is our rainiest month of the year, with just under 5 inches of measurable rainfall at Paine Field. You can see the monthly climate normals for KPAE…

After several weeks of not much weather besides heat, sun and smoke, it is finally starting to feel like fall outside, especially with the return of the rain. In the past week, we have seen 1.39 inches of rain after only seeing 0.31 inches since July 1. In the span of about seven days, we…