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Weather Blog - August 2012

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Seattle: Home to 15 minutes of August rain
Aug 30, 2012 at 6:28 PM PDT
'Blue moon' on same day as Neil Armstrong service
Aug 30, 2012 at 6:21 PM PDT
Hot dogs keep cool during 'Dog Days of Summer'
Aug 29, 2012 at 10:00 PM PDT
Seattle dry streak nears honorary scribble in hallowed weather book
Aug 28, 2012 at 2:00 PM PDT
Farmer's Almanac predicts dry, but chilly Northwest winter
Aug 27, 2012 at 9:50 PM PDT
Brilliant fire rainbow and other cool stuff to wrap up the week
Aug 24, 2012 at 8:03 PM PDT
What 5 inches of rain in 90 minutes looks like...
Aug 23, 2012 at 8:26 PM PDT
Seattle now averaging an hour of 'summer' weather a day?
Aug 22, 2012 at 11:35 PM PDT
Storm chaser films as 'mother ship' storm cloud forms in front of them
Aug 21, 2012 at 7:30 PM PDT
'Soap bubble' clouds appear over Antarctica
Aug 20, 2012 at 9:24 PM PDT
For the record, Felix heater > Seattle heat
Aug 19, 2012 at 6:33 AM PDT
September a journey back to June weather?
Aug 16, 2012 at 9:27 PM PDT
Felix heater vs. Seattle heat, which will be greater?
Aug 15, 2012 at 7:01 PM PDT
Weather looking good for annual Perseid Meteor Shower this weekend
Aug 9, 2012 at 11:17 PM PDT
July goes down as hottest ever in United States
Aug 8, 2012 at 6:06 PM PDT
Towering thunderhead seen for miles
Aug 7, 2012 at 6:16 AM PDT
Watch the heat wave dramatically end in Port Angeles
Aug 6, 2012 at 12:04 AM PDT
July's best weather photos and statistics
Aug 4, 2012 at 11:54 PM PDT
Heat and hydros go hand-in-hand
Aug 3, 2012 at 5:53 PM PDT
Seattle reaches the top of the weather roller-coaster
Aug 2, 2012 at 10:05 PM PDT

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About Scott Sistek

Meteorologist

Recent Posts

Weather How tornado victims got 25 minutes of precious warning time (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 21, 2013 at 12:18 PM PDT Last Updated: May 21, 2013 at 5:15 PM PDT

Twenty-five minutes.

That might not seem very long -- about the time it takes to wade through your favorite weekly sitcom if you fast forward past the commercials. But compared to a few decades ago, 25 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, on Friday, the forecasts became more specific. On Sunday, 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.

Weather "What does ''EF-4'' mean?' and other tornado questions answered

By Scott Sistek Published: May 20, 2013 at 4:10 PM PDT

With tornadoes in the news lately I figured it'd be a good time to post answers to some frequently asked questions about the powerful storms:

What does "EF-4" mean?

WIth the devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, you'll be hearing a lot of about "EF" ratings -- that's from the Enhanced Fujita Scale that rates tornadoes on a scale of 0 to 5, 5 being the strongest.

The Moore tornado was given a preliminary rating of EF-4 ("Devastating") with estimated tornadic wind speeds of up to 200 mph, although many are thinking that rating could be increased to an EF-5 ("Incredible") once more damage assessment is done.

Sadly, it's not the first time Moore has had to deal with such a catastrophic storm. On May 3, 1999, Moore was struck by an EF-5 tornado which recorded the strongest wind speed ever registered near Earth's surface. this map provided by the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma shows just how close the two tracks were.

Weather Northern Lights peek out in Eastern Washington (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 18, 2013 at 9:57 AM PDT Last Updated: May 19, 2013 at 12:55 AM PDT

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.

Weather Northern Lights to be visible around the Pacific Northwest soon?

By Scott Sistek Published: May 16, 2013 at 11:33 AM PDT Last Updated: May 16, 2013 at 1:58 PM PDT

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.

Weather Northwest Weather Photos: Showing off our spectacular spring (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 15, 2013 at 6:50 AM PDT Last Updated: May 15, 2013 at 4:07 PM PDT

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