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Unemployed. Drinking summer beer. Sitting on a stoop. Soaking in some 6pm sun. Life is quite alright.

Interesting cloud structures along the east crest of the Cascades. Windy and warm today.

Took my son to Montreal this past weekend for his 18th birthday. He had his first drink (hard cider) in a pub watching the Canadians advance to the next round of the NHL playoffs - what an atmosphere! We proceeded to the casino where I taught him video poker and he hit 4 aces for $200. Absolute banger memories. No amount of long-range doom-n-gloom models of fire and brimstone, drought and plague could bring this dad down. lol

Massive storm for the region, and badly needed. Several feet for the mountains and foothills. Here, I have about 5" on the ground after melting/compaction. Probably storm total around 8". Lots of branches down around the area, but I think the accumulation was just slow enough with enough melting that it wasn't devastating. At least in my area.

Tim, I totally get what you mean, I'm on the same page as you. It has to be exhausting still being surprised by the yearly disaster that is now our warm season. Gone are the safe, secure cloudy summer afternoons; protected by thick sheets of stratocumulus shielding the land from the blistering, torturous sun. Every year now the calendar flips to April, and the faucet turns off; the Pacific rears its ugly head and turns its nozzle to Alaska, laughing as flames shooting from the four corners high lick the branches off our browning douglas firs. Like clockwork the southerly march of death takes part in its annual six month consumption of the states of Washington and Oregon, each summer season bringing newfound horror and misery the likes of which have been seen by neither white man nor indigenous. The complete annihilation of our marine layer is now an imminent certainty as ocean temperatures surge to record levels, weakening the boundary layer and encouraging more desert air to mix to the burnt surface of our region. Glacial retreat, species migration, rivers too warm for salmon to spawn, bark beetle plagues, obliterating wildfires, scorching heat, and total desertification await those who enjoy the middle of the year. I, for one, have accepted our region's steady, inevitable course toward irreversible desiccation. And I'm glad you have too. It's only a matter of time now before a ten thousand year fire wipes away the fading remnants of what once was called the Pacific Northwest.

More doomer nonsense. People love it when they can go hiking and not worry about snow and ice. Hiking next year will be even better when all of the undergrowth is burned away and the trails become accessible year round.

Rhodies are blooming.

Decent chance we're +10 for the month come the 15th. Gonna blow away every May record. Just another month in the PNW.

Tim, you give off Jordan Schlansky vibes, ngl. Do you own multiple nose trimmers from Japan? Only purchase a certain type of toilet paper? Pronounce "Tango" as "T'ah'ngo", by chance? lol

Rockies getting hammered...about as good of news they've had in a while regarding the drought.

It’s ok. I got a great severance and it has carried me these past five months. Hopefully I’ll be employed again doing what I love.

Happy May day! 47 degrees to start so far..

Waited until the sun came out to do yard work... much more enjoyable in the sun (unless its really hot). Next project is to over-seed the lawn now that we will be home to monitor it.

Looks like the Euro and Euro AI both moved in a troughier direction for mid month overnight.

We’re all autistic nerds I know I am.

6z GFS absolutely cooks next week. Easily going to be a record warm first half of May. 6z Euro AIFS had no rain through the 20th and another prolonged round of record heat mid-month.

Been having some good “I’m living in Leavenworth and enjoying a nice summers day with a cold beer in the mountains” day dreams.

Earliest 91 on record at PDX.

Quite a bit of thunder from a cell to my south and east.

Nice storm to the NE of Rainier...

I went fishing today on the Gibbon River and then saw some baby fluffy cows and thermal stuff.

Good day for jazz and code.

Start of summer is different than saying it’s warming as fast as July and August.

Back to +5 at PDX today, for those who would like to track this cold spell in real time.....

I think this post makes you the most spectrumy.

I just want a goddamn Wawa.

Nice day above the marine layer.

Here is an update on our tree that was really damaged. We cut off the downed branches and sprayed the open wounds. Hopefully it balances out over time. Its really lopsided now. Its half of what it used to be but seemed to leaf out fine.

That game seven was BONKERS. Nine shots on goal and the W!!

Watch this summer actually be unusually wet due to an unprecedented level of monsoon moisture reaching us.

My honest thoughts are that summers are going to keep warming as they have, though at intermittent rates not entirely bound to the 2012-present skyrocket we've seen. Much of this newfound warmth has been simply advection based, too, where a more bloated 4CH sends more desert air into the area than it used to, cutting off our marine access a bit more successfully. You can see the impact of that desertification in the fact that coastal sites haven't seen nearly as much summer warming as the interior airports, barring the increased number of heatwaves that mix out the marine layer all the way to the water. One of these days we're going to see a one-off summer or a pair of summers, where troughing is more or less encouraged on the westside, and we see exactly how cool we get with proper marine air. 2019's summer background state is the closest we've come since 2011, though that year had far too much of a southerly component to cool off at night. I think 2011 or maybe even 2000 is our ceiling. Though it would require something extraordinary. I just don't buy, even with the last decade and a half of warming, that we are incapable of an oceanic summer now. We live an unimpeded 200 miles from the coast, when our weather systems that affect airflow are broad 500-1000 mile wide cutoffs. If just one cutoff sits over our area, even for the majority of only one month out of the summer, that month's averages are going to be below normal.

IIRC May at SEA warmed +1.6F from the 1971-2000 to the 1981-2010 averages…and almost all of our warmest summers have been in the last 10 years. Everyone whos lived here a long time can tell the difference from the past compared to pre 2011. Is it so hard to accept our warm season as a whole is trending warmer and in some years drier? The warming has been much more pronounced than the drying. The 1991-2020 averages are going to be a big jump over the 1981-2010 ones even.

Lovely evening.

went for a ride out to Priest Lake, ID had lunch and some beers at a place called The Moose Knuckle and then saw 2 Moose on the drive back to Spokane. Nice Day. about 78 at the house

A little something popping up just south of Mt Baker

As I delve deeper into my 20s, I'm finding myself liking the heat more and more. I'd appreciate it in its proper context; i.e. the ~3 or so days a year on average that Seattle is supposed to hit 90F, rather than the endless hot smokefests we've grown accustomed to; but to tell you the truth, the summer sun is just one of those god given things I just can't go the year without. Our climate is so perfect and temperate. I used to think I could live in a Juneau-esque summer climate, however, while a persistent summer lushness would kick ass compared to brown lawns and a total absence of weather, I just don't think I could deal with almost no heat the entire year. Here in Seattle we can have the mildness and the sun at the same time. It's truly brilliant. Truth be told, Iowa probably has my absolute most ideal summer climate. Baking hot, sunny, and convectively productive with dynamic weather systems. Plus, it's the wet season, so everything is tropical green. (I am like a tick's exact target demographic istg)

THUNDER!

Troughs and Prayers is the new Thoughts and Prayers

I loved the illustrations that Tim added for extra effect. I think he should start working on writing a children's book about a cute puppy braving a Costco trip with its owner on an awful, 42 degree drizzle day. Bestseller potential.

Wow Seattle marine layer doesn’t like it warm and Tim doesn’t like it cold. Good thing they’re going over this again.

RIP Ted Turner

Cruising through pictures I found one of me at the lake probably around 1980. Compared to about the same angle 2yrs ago with my kids. A few more houses across the lake these days!

A summer like 2011 or 1993 would probably be a massive shock to the system especially for people who’ve moved to western Washington in the last 10 years. Hard to imagine pulling off something similar to either of those years nowadays.

Also conveniently ignores Tim calling October a winter month sometimes. There may be a few day spurt of winter like weather in the lowlands but it’s a fall month. Not debatable.

Outside of 2022 we’ve gotten plenty of tastes of summer every April/May every year lol. Not much luck anymore our climo is just changing.

Spring has really been reduced down to a few weeks (mid-March to late April) though in years like this one it bleeds into winter anyways since that season was basically non-existent. By the very end of April, summer is pretty much in full swing now. It really feels so different. We just flip a switch now and warm/dry and 70+ become the default. Gone are the cool, dry days and cold core showery days that used to make up the bulk of our springs through mid June. It's either a quick transient trough or warm/hot + dry.

As you always like to point out, I don't think the weather cares about your feelings or what you "see right through". I'm sure there will be another cool 300 hour AIFS frame or two, though!

It’s been nice enjoying the sunny warm weather but just wish we could mix some rain in. Too dry too fast this year…pretty much flipped into summer climo at this point.