August 2018 Weather in the Pacific Northwest

[Jesse]

You know it’s been bad when heatsquall transitions to fallsquall by 8/11!

[Frontal Snowsquall]

Canadian smoke model says that lots of smoke will be coming south from BC by Monday.

 

Not again. Was hoping this coming week we could have some smoke free air.

[Jesse]

Not again. Was hoping this coming week we could have some smoke free air.

Probably a safe guess that any hot pattern for the remainder of this warm season will feature smoke at times. At least until there is some sort of region wide soaking.

[jcmcgaffey]

Rain!! Roads are wet!!

[Farmboy]

Hot, fun times ahead per the 12z GFS.. I'm agreeing with others on here. It's getting a little old...

[Frontal Snowsquall]

Probably a safe guess that any hot pattern for the remainder of this warm season will feature smoke at times. At least until there is some sort of region wide soaking.

The analog(s) I'm using point to a troughy September. We really need to get a regional rain event within the next ~4-6 weeks or so. If we continue to torch through all of September then it might have bad ramifications down the line.

[jcmcgaffey]

It looks like that persistent convergence just north of Seattle again. There have been several times where nothing shows on the radar but a small meandering convergence just hovers Seattle north and pops up on the radar every now and then.

[Jesse]

That 12z GFS though.

 

80 degree average at PDX this month?

[Jesse]

[wx_statman]

Seems like that might be the easiest way to figure out how much PDX's numbers may have been influenced by increased UHI.

 

In general, though, high temps are not affected by UHI near as much as low temps. SEA is sort of an exception to that, during the warm season.

 

Agreed, comparing to downtown would be a basic first step (especially since the downtown sensor has been on the same rooftop since 1973, I believe). The problem is that downtown obs aren't usually updated daily. I've also noticed lots of missing data there in the past when looking at recent monthly stats - for example, I just checked July 2018 and both the 13th & 28th are missing. The data only runs to Aug. 6th as well, so real-time analysis is impossible for this current pattern. 

 

Low temps are definitely more sensitive to UHI (sensible heat radiation from concrete preventing decoupling), but the same concrete can still give a nice boost to local maximums as well. Especially when compared to a previous landscape of riparian wetlands in that area. That's a lot of daytime heating that used to be diverted (on a local scale) toward evaporation of all that moisture, but can now be converted to diabatic heating of the lower levels. It definitely makes a difference, in the same way that a drought pattern increases surface heating in normally wet areas. 

[Front Ranger]

Agreed, comparing to downtown would be a basic first step (especially since the downtown sensor has been on the same rooftop since 1973, I believe). The problem is that downtown obs aren't usually updated daily. I've also noticed lots of missing data there in the past when looking at recent monthly stats - for example, I just checked July 2018 and both the 13th & 28th are missing. The data only runs to Aug. 6th as well, so real-time analysis is impossible for this current pattern. 

 

Low temps are definitely more sensitive to UHI (sensible heat radiation from concrete preventing decoupling), but the same concrete can still give a nice boost to local maximums as well. Especially when compared to a previous landscape of riparian wetlands in that area. That's a lot of daytime heating that used to be diverted (on a local scale) toward evaporation of all that moisture, but can now be converted to diabatic heating of the lower levels. It definitely makes a difference, in the same way that a drought pattern increases surface heating in normally wet areas. 

 

100% agree. Increased UHI will raise low temps at pretty much any station, but the affect on high temps is more variable and depends largely on what the land looked like before the increase in concrete, buildings, bare ground, lights, etc, and usually decrease in vegetation.

[Front Ranger]

Convective temps have already been reached in the Seattle area with sunbreaks around. We'll see if that translates into some boomers over the next few hours.

[VancouverIslandSouth]

Ended up with a 63F low last night, warmer than any lows we had in the preceding heatwave, but it's only up to 66F right now. Supposedly there was some drizzle this morning. Would be nice to get some real rain today, though anything short of an inch probably wouldn't make much of a difference judging by the forecasts  .

[Front Ranger]

As is often the case, hot weather in the PNW has meant cooler than normal weather for a large portion of the country.

 

[ShawniganLake]

Ended up with a 63F low last night, warmer than any lows we had in the preceding heatwave, but it's only up to 66F right now. Supposedly there was some drizzle this morning. Would be nice to get some real rain today, though anything short of an inch probably wouldn't make much of a difference judging by the forecasts .

drizzle here now

[Timmy]

St. Helens is getting a good soaking this morning!

[VancouverIslandSouth]

drizzle here now

 

That should at least help with the fire situation up there. It's dry with a mix of sun/clouds here.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Sprinkles!!!

[Front Ranger]

St. Helens is getting a good soaking this morning!

 

Looks like this brief wave sliding through will probably be about it for most places, judging by radar. Not much out there to the west. I'm sure Tim and Mossman will end up with .5"+, though.

 

Nice shower moving through Tacoma right now.

[Phil]

As is often the case, hot weather in the PNW has meant cooler than normal weather for a large portion of the country.

 

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The warmth here has largely been due to high minimums, though. Lots of days w/ 75-78 degree dews and billowing clouds/rain.

[Blizzard777]

Driving back into the neighborhood their is a garage sale going on... feel bad their about to get soaked! Clothes galore out everywhere

 

No rumbles yet

[The Swamp]

It is dumping rain in Puyallup.  Very interesting.

 

Back to the heat next week.

 

Love it!

[seattleweatherguy]

Some rain here then stopped

[Jesse]

Getting some decent light rain here. Maybe 0.05”

or so. Better than nothing.

[VancouverIslandSouth]

Looks like Shawnigan just had some very heavy rain in a shower. There's a broad area of showers moving this way, hope it holds together. I'm seeing a bit of rotation at the head of the Juan de Fuca.

[ShawniganLake]

Looks like Shawnigan just had some very heavy rain in a shower. There's a broad area of showers moving this way, hope it holds together. I'm seeing a bit of rotation at the head of the Juan de Fuca.

Yea. It rained about 0.1” in 30 seconds. The street was a river well after the rain stopped.

[TT-SEA]

Was out mowing the lawn and got drenched with one of the small cells ahead of main front. Had to finish mowing with wet grass. Not fun.

 

Life in the Pacific NorthWET!

[TT-SEA]

Some heavy rain incoming now.

[ShawniganLake]

Was out mowing the lawn and got drenched with one of the small cells ahead of main front. Had to finish mowing with wet grass. Not fun.

 

Life in the Pacific NorthWET!

Haha. It’s been super tough to find a dry day for mowing this summer.

[ShawniganLake]

Some lightning showing up in western Washington now

[Front Ranger]

Getting some decent light rain here. Maybe 0.05”

or so. Better than nothing.

 

That's more than any of the I-5 stations have recorded so far.

[Front Ranger]

Haha. It’s been super tough to find a dry day for mowing this summer.

 

No kidding. Leave it to Tim to pick the one, well-advertised day with showers to mow his lawn. 

[TigerWoodsLibido]

Aaaand now completely dry.  Looks like things will start to break up later on.

[Phil]

Week 2 EPS. #ItNeverStops

 

[seattleweatherguy]

Week 2 EPS. #ItNeverStops

 

Phil I thought it's suppose to be an avg Aug not hotter than normal

[TT-SEA]

No kidding. Leave it to Tim to pick the one, well-advertised day with showers to mow his lawn.

Its Saturday. And I had intentionally left it long to withstand the heat better. But needed to mow it... so today is the best day.

 

I took advantage of an unexpected dry period earlier and was actually hoping to get wet. I was not really complaining.

[MossMan]

1st Rumble!

[TT-SEA]

Getting quite a heavy, soaking rain right now and I’m really enjoying it which feels a little weird given we are about to enter an 8 month stretch of nothing but rain.

 

Hoping to get some lightning/thunder at some point, something that is sorely missed after being under a ridge for the past month+.

I feel the same way.

 

I want some rain now... but that feels strange since we know that it will never end once it gets going.

[Front Ranger]

I feel the same way.

 

I want some rain now... but that feels strange since we know that it will never end once it gets going.

 

There are only 5 months of the year where it rains on more days than it's dry at SEA.

 

In other words, most of the year, most days are dry.

[FroYoBro]

Was out mowing the lawn and got drenched with one of the small cells ahead of main front. Had to finish mowing with wet grass. Not fun.

 

Life in the Pacific NorthWET!

This is a poor attempt at trolling.