Does it feel a bit like January out there today? Your skin does not deceive you.
A cold system from the Gulf of Alaska has settled into the Pacific Northwest, bringing not only a steady winter-like rain but has kept temperatures stuck in the 40s(!) through the late morning.
In fact, at 11 a.m., Seattle was stuck at 46 degrees -- about the average high for mid January. It's so cold in the Northwest that Seattle and Portland were tied as the coldest major cities in the lower 48 states -- and it wasn't even close! (Boise was at 50. Anchorage was also at 46. If we do lower our population threshold for "major city", Spokane checks in at 41.)
Portland would gradually take the trophy by itself as Seattle later warmed into the low 50s as Portland remained stuck in the mid 40s.
Thirty-six minutes.
That might not seem very long -- roughly about the time it takes to wade through your hourly drama if you blaze through commercials. But compared to a few decades ago, 36 minutes of time might have saved countless lives during the devastating tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma on Monday.
Years ago, the residents of Moore would have likely had no idea the tornado was coming until the twister was sighted, giving people barely a few minutes' notice. But thanks to advancements in technology, tornadoes rarely sneak up on anyone anymore.
In fact, forecasters as early as Wednesday began sounding the alarm for a potential severe weather breakout on Sunday and Monday. And, on Friday, the forecasts became more specific. On Monday, a Tornado Watch, which indicates conditions are right for tornadic development, was issued at 1:10 p.m. for much of Oklahoma, including the greater Oklahoma City area.
As we mentioned in the blog Thursday, there's a particularly active sunspot on the sun right now.
It had, as its opening salvo while starting to face the Earth, unleashed a moderately strong solar flare that reached us late Friday, triggering a display of the Northern Lights that reached as far south as Colorado.
The sun has been getting quite active lately, with one sun spot in particular giving off several explosive flares this week, and it could eventually bring some brilliant displays of the Northern Lights to the Pacific Northwest.
Since Monday, Sunspot AR1748 has already given off four "X-class" solar flares -- X being the most powerful class of flares that have potential to disrupt radio and satellite signals. In fact, that flare has given off more X-class flares than every other sunspot of the past year combined, according to spaceweather.com.
Up to this point, the spot has been on a part of the sun not directly facing Earth, so the flares have been directed away from our planet and not really giving us much of an effect.
A line of thunderstorms and strong winds plowed through Western Washington on Monday afternoon, toppling trees and ripping down power lines.
You've probably seen video of flash floods before, but for these homeowners in Minnesota, it was a little different this weekend: A "flood" of ice.
A woman on Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake snapped this video of what some are calling an "ice out tsunami."
"Just sounded like shattering glass," Darla Johnson told WCCO-TV. "It was pushing and breaking and pushing and breaking."
Thunderstorms are fairly rare in the Puget Sound region, but what few we do get seem to conglomerate in the spring time, so this forecast is right on schedule.
SEATTLE-- Missing: Middle ground. Last seen several months ago. Description: Temperatures of medium build, 60-65 degrees, with clouds that weigh about 2-3 days' worth of rain a week.
Once again, Seattle is locked into a weather pattern that features either a stretch of cool, wet weather or a period of warm, dry weather, with nary a mixture of the two in between.
Friday's sunshine with temperatures rising well into the 70s, if not low 80s in some spots, is extending an all-time record spanning almost 120 years of Seattle history: The first 10 days of May are going to finish warmer than 65 degrees with zero rain in the rain gauge.* The old record for both zero rain to start a month and have all days 65 degrees highs or warmer was eight.
The first week of May is probably better known around here as the Opening Day of Boating Season but did you also know it's when we kick off the fire rainbow season?
Fire rainbows, or more officially (and more boringly) known as "circumhorizonal arcs" are caused by ice crystals in the thin, distant clouds being at just the correct angle to refract the sunlight into the colors of the prism.
Ron Glowen, now of Arlington, Wash., just sent me these photos that were taken in June of 2006 while visiting his hometown of Spokane.
Those of you who frequently read the blog might have noted it was on autopilot the past two weeks as I've been out of town, but now that I'm back, I've found there were a lot of fun and cool topics that happened since I was off on the other coast.
First up: Did you know a baseball game at Denver's Coors Field set a record on April 23 for the coldest game time temperature on record? Just 23 degrees. It broke the record set... the week before in Denver at 28. Chicago had held the record at 29 before that pair of chilly games.
It's not often Seattle can go toe-to-toe with Phoenix in the hot weather department for the crown of hottest big city in America, but Monday, the Emerald City held its own.
Seattle and Phoenix both reached 87 degrees -- smashing the daily record of 79 for Seattle; a few degrees cooler than the normal 91 for Phoenix.
But at least on this particular day, no other major city in the United States could claim to be as warm.
Not Miami (85), not Las Vegas (78), Houston (79), Dallas (77), New Orleans (75) and certainly not Los Angeles (66) or even lowering our population standards, Palm Springs! (77). We even bested our usually warmer neighbors to the south in Portland (83) and east in Spokane (81).
Not since the country of Slovakia adopted the euro as its official form of currency has Seattle been this warm in May, and the continued warmth and sunshine is set to break a number of records that have stood for decades and, in some cases, centuries.
Seattle hit a balmy high of 84 degrees on Sunday -- the first day over 80 degrees day in May since 2009 (back before most cell phones had 4G!). It was even warmer on the coast as warm easterly winds that got a temperature boost from the Olympic Mountains sent highs into the mid-upper 80s, with Forks hitting 88.
Yet while the coast was one and done (down in the upper 50s Monday, thanks to marine clouds) Seattle and the Puget Sound area were basking in another day that was expected to reach well into the 80s, courtesy of a thermal trough that will keep the warm east winds going through Monday. Seattle's record high for Monday is 79 degrees, set in 1957 and will likely be broken by the end of lunchtime.
(In fact, Seattle was already at 74 degrees at 11 a.m. Monday, warmer than this impressive list of sun cities: Orlando, Los Angeles, Houston, San Diego, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Dallas!)
Even though technically, for Seattle at least, temperatures have been near to even a little above average since the start of February, if you ask around, many would say this spring is well on its way to being the third in a row and fourth of the past six that have gone down as cold and rainy with the frequent cloudy, drizzly days.
Well, long range models suggest this spring is about to make an about-face and warm things up a bit.
The first inkling will be much warmer weather expected for the middle of next week, with highs expected to climb well into the 60s if not some 70s amid plenty of sunshine.
Thousands flock to the Skagit Valley each April during their annual tulip festival to see the breathtaking rows and rows of colorful tulips and other flowers.
As you might imagine, playing host to the world means keeping a keen eye on the weather for all the incoming guests, while at the same time crossing fingers that Mother Nature provides the need sun and rain to make the tulips their very best.
I always wondered if the weather in March and April affected how the tulips would grow each year -- if it's sunny and warm for too long or if it rains for four weeks straight, can it damage the bulbs or, worse yet, wipe out the show? Can you gauge how well and how long the tulips will remain in bloom based on the weather leading up to and during the festival?
Every April, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival draws people from around the world to marvel at the brilliant and colorful display of flowers that grace the region's farmlands.
How did this spot tucked into the northwester corner of Washington become the national capital of tulips and an international sensation? By being blessed with some ingenious farmers and the perfect climate for growing tulips.
"The cool, maritime climate that encompasses this area is perfect for bulb growth," said Brent Roozen, with Roozengaarde Flowers & Bulbs, one of the two main farms in the Skagit Valley that grow tulips.
The Skagit Valley sits roughly on par with the latitude of another famous tulip paradise: Holland. While that country is about 250 miles closer to the North Pole, Holland and the Skagit Valley have remarkably similar climates:
You could tell the skies were a bit angry this weekend. If the heavy rain, lightning, snow and enough hail for others to make it look like it snowed there too weren't enough to showcase the turbulent skies, perhaps these videos will.
A few people had time lapse videos made of the bubbling cumulus clouds. These clouds are product of a very unstable atmosphere caused by a larger-than-normal difference in temperature between the ground and the upper levels of the atmosphere.
Springtime is a typical time for these weather patterns when you still have cold winter-leftover storms mixing with the warmer April sun. As that warm air becomes buoyant and lifts off the ground, it can dramatically rise and create these towering clouds that bring the heavy rain, lightning and hail we saw Saturday and, to a lesser extent, Sunday.
First up is Vashon Island, courtesy of Twitter user twitter.com/whitesky60
Brrr! Seattle, Portland briefly tied for coldest major city in lower 48
