August 2023 Weather in the PNW

[Phil]

I can’t believe I didn’t know about this app earlier. “National Wx”.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/national-weather-forecast-data/id1249694161

Forecasts are point-and-click NWS, also has visible satellite/IR, majority of mesoscale and global weather models, NWS forecast discussions, convective/hydro/fire/winter outlooks from SPC/etc, and you can bookmark any weather stations on the map, including your own PWS.

Highly recommend it if you use your mobile device a lot. Really reduced the number of tabs I’d otherwise need to keep open.

[Cold Snap]

19 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Maybe some valley minimums brought down the average?   No idea.   The nights were cooler down on the valley floor compared to up here.   It could not have been nicer in my opinion... so call it whatever you want.  Endless sunshine and warm.  A+.  The only thing missing was a couple more rain events.   The grass is dead brown around here.   The one rain event we had was not enough.  

I don’t know if the valley out by North Bend is different but in Duvall MBY is almost always cooler than Downtown Duvall. Downtown is at about 60-70 feet elevation. MBY is at 410 feet elevation.

[TacomaWx]

Euro coming to its senses showing 0.2” here on this run for the next 2 days. We will see about the  later next week system. 

[NWbyNW]

OREGON

Tons of new fires in Oregon today, especially in central and southern Oregon within the Umpqua National Forest area of the Cascades. Oregon has three major wildfires in the state, one, the Bedrock Fire is over 12,000 acres so far and roughly east of Eugene and Springfield.  The S Danebo Fire within Eugene suburbs is a bit concerning, now at 2.8 acres in size. Another concerning fire near Eugene is the Harrisburg Fire which has forced evacuations of several homeowners. The fire is was growing fast but has sense slowed.  We will find out more in the morning. 

 

WASHINGTON

Washington has two major fires, but overall, it's pretty calm in the state compared to last year. The two big fires are the Eagle Bluff Fire which is tied to BC's fire nightmare and the Oie Highway Fire near Benton City.  The Newell Road Fire has been contained.

[Skagit Weather]

4 minutes ago, NWbyNW said:

OREGON

Tons of new fires in Oregon today, especially in central and southern Oregon within the Umpqua National Forest area of the Cascades. Oregon has three major wildfires in the state, one, the Bedrock Fire is over 12,000 acres so far and roughly east of Eugene and Springfield.  The S Danebo Fire within Eugene suburbs is a bit concerning, now at 2.8 acres in size. Another concerning fire near Eugene is the Harrisburg Fire which has forced evacuations of several homeowners. The fire is was growing fast but has sense slowed.  We will find out more in the morning. 

 

WASHINGTON

Washington has two major fires, but overall, it's pretty calm in the state compared to last year. The two big fires are the Eagle Bluff Fire which is tied to BC's fire nightmare and the Oie Highway Fire near Benton City.  The Newell Road Fire has been contained.

Sourdough Fire definitely counts as major at more than 3,000 acres. Sounds like the town of Diablo has been saved, but they're still trying to protect the other infrastructure in the park. Highway closed down at 10 p.m. tonight because of the fire which they've stopped trying to actually fight. Sounds like they're just going to let it burn until October (or whenever the rains come) and play defensive.

[Requiem]

8 minutes ago, NWbyNW said:

OREGON

Tons of new fires in Oregon today, especially in central and southern Oregon within the Umpqua National Forest area of the Cascades. Oregon has three major wildfires in the state, one, the Bedrock Fire is over 12,000 acres so far and roughly east of Eugene and Springfield.  The S Danebo Fire within Eugene suburbs is a bit concerning, now at 2.8 acres in size. Another concerning fire near Eugene is the Harrisburg Fire which has forced evacuations of several homeowners. The fire is was growing fast but has sense slowed.  We will find out more in the morning. 

 

WASHINGTON

Washington has two major fires, but overall, it's pretty calm in the state compared to last year. The two big fires are the Eagle Bluff Fire which is tied to BC's fire nightmare and the Oie Highway Fire near Benton City.  The Newell Road Fire has been contained.

The fire just northeast of Eugene is actually called the Priceboro Fire-- it's burning in the Coburg Hills on the other side of I-5 from Harrisburg.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

I really hope that Priceboro fire doesn't blow up tomorrow. It's getting dangerously close to the metro area and is threatening lots of dying fir trees and the grass crop here. Awful situation.

This is only gonna get worse in the coming years.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

13 hours ago, GobBluth said:

not being in the same conference doesn't seem to be a reason to abandon intrastate battles. Iowa vs ISU?

After a few years, OS and WSU will have substantially less money and a revolving door coaching staff and players, it would be like playing San Jose State every season for both teams. I doubt OS and WSU have any interest in playing them for a while and I can't really blame them. Big TV money is going to create a clear and obvious NFL juniors setup.

[Cloud]

28 minutes ago, TigerWoodsLibido said:

After a few years, OS and WSU will have substantially less money and a revolving door coaching staff and players, it would be like playing San Jose State every season for both teams. I doubt OS and WSU have any interest in playing them for a while and I can't really blame them. Big TV money is going to create a clear and obvious NFL juniors setup.

The Pac-12 have now become second class.. so in terms of in-state rivalries, they may have the leverage here if UW and UO wants to keep the Civil War and Apple Cup games going. WSU and OSU can demand substantial out of conference money for these games to be played. 

In the end, I don't blame the Pac-12 defects, the Pac-12 TV deals is a joke, even with partial share that UW and UO are getting, they are still getting paid a lot more than sticking around in the Pac-12. And the whole "Pac-12 After Dark" is dumb af, hard to get any kind of exposure for meaningful recruitments. 

[NWbyNW]

Smoke-wise, it looks like models are now starting to react to the recent plum from the Sourdough Fire.  Even without that smoke being produced, smoke from BC could be headed our way early Saturday and it looks to last through the weekend.  The models are a bit shaky right now with more overcast skies coming in too with some chances of rain Saturday and Sunday, so take this as a 50/50 right now.

 

 

[Ken in Wood Village]

It's been sprinkling in my area this morning. Not much but it's a nice change of pace 🌦

[TacomaWx]

Very mild low of 64 this morning. It was sprinkling when I left for work down in auburn this morning. No raindrops here at work though.
 The sky looks very convective right now to the east. Rain must not be very much in the mountains yet either because I could see rainier on the drive into work. 

[Port Angeles Foothiller]

Last night’s aurora before the moon came up and washed it all out.

[T-Town]

Looking convective earlier. No rain yet. 

[T-Town]

Last night’s sunset. 

[TT-SEA]

Just started raining here... looks like it might go all day.    Heading out to MN this morning.   And the 00Z EPS was fairly ugly later in the run.    When the EPS is showing mid 90s in the long range there is usually trouble ahead.    At least the next week looks quite reasonable.

 

[FroYoBro]

A little light rain here to dampen the concrete. 

[TacomaWx]

26 minutes ago, T-Town said:

Looking convective earlier. No rain yet. 

I counted somewhere between 15 and 38 raindrops on my car this morning. I’m a bit further east this morning and there hasn’t been any raindrops here. Radar is starting to fill in from the east but overall I’d expect if it does rain it’ll be a similar total to the rain a couple weeks ago. 

[MossMan]

A mix of smoke and clouds I believe. Though I don’t really smell anything yet. 

[TacomaWx]

3 minutes ago, MossMan said:

A mix of smoke and clouds I believe. Though I don’t really smell anything yet. 

There’s some smoke aloft for sure today with the easterly flow…but very little if anything should be down at the surface. 

[TacomaWx]

Starting to get some raindrops here in auburn. 

[T-Town]

20 minutes ago, TacomaWx said:

I counted somewhere between 15 and 38 raindrops on my car this morning. I’m a bit further east this morning and there hasn’t been any raindrops here. Radar is starting to fill in from the east but overall I’d expect if it does rain it’ll be a similar total to the rain a couple weeks ago. 

Just ran over to the recycling center and had some sprinkles. 

[Meatyorologist]

47 minutes ago, TT-SEA said:

Just started raining here... looks like it might go all day.    Heading out to MN this morning.   And the 00Z EPS was fairly ugly later in the run.    When the EPS is showing mid 90s in the long range there is usually trouble ahead.    At least the next week looks quite reasonable.

 

I might have to escape to the Cascades. It helps that it's midweek so I don't miss out on hanging with friends on the weekend.

[Meatyorologist]

Nice to see some clouds and rain sheltering you guys back home! The airmass aloft isn't exactly cold so mixing and full insolation would bring highs in the 80s otherwise!

[Meatyorologist]

Meanwhile, where I'm chasing today...

[TacomaWx]

Just now, Meatyorologist said:

Nice to see some clouds and rain sheltering you guys back home! The airmass aloft isn't exactly cold so mixing and full insolation would bring highs in the 80s otherwise!

Starting to stick to some elevated surfaces here. Ground temps are a little warm though…cliff mass was right. 

[MossMan]

Too bad this isn’t centered over the fire in the north cascades. 

[Ken in Wood Village]

11 minutes ago, Meatyorologist said:

Meanwhile, where I'm chasing today...

Looks like a active day in the central US. Looks like we could see a little active weather too. 

[TacomaWx]

Raining decently here in auburn the last 15 minutes. Ground is whet finally. 

[T-Town]

2 minutes ago, TacomaWx said:

Raining decently here in auburn the last 15 minutes. Ground is whet finally. 

Started sprinkling here so I brought in the patio cushions which of course made it stop raining. 

[TacomaWx]

5 minutes ago, T-Town said:

Started sprinkling here so I brought in the patio cushions which of course made it stop raining. 

I suspect that the precip rates might pick up at times…but overall it looks like it’ll be lightly raining constantly into tomorrow. Very interesting set up with a ton of monsoon moisture stretching all the way from eastern WA moving west over the mountains. Despite the high precipitable water values in the atmosphere it probably won’t amount to any huge rain totals in western WA. 

[Phil]

3 minutes ago, Ken in Wood Village said:

Looks like an active day in the central US. Looks like we could see a little active weather too. 

The coming pattern is pretty unusual for August. Reminds me more of something we’d see in June. Not the typical stagnant, sluggish late summer affair. Numerous chances for severe wx here starting Sunday as multiple shortwaves ride the base of that Great Lakes trough.

To some extent it reminds me of 2008/09/10 which also had relatively dynamic patterns during the second half of summer. Some of the wildest storms of my lifetime to-date occurred in that stretch.

[Phishy Wx]

hopefully some rain moves in tonight otherwise this looks like a flop over here. oof

[T-Town]

Picked up .04 this morning. Looks like that’s about it for now.  

[Cascadia_Wx]

Ended up with an 83/59 here yesterday. Pretty big underachievement on the high which is always nice, thanks to high clouds streaming in much of the afternoon.

On the flip side ended up with a very mild night last night thanks to cloud cover. Low of just 65 here, and PDX barely made it below 70. But with more cloudiness and spots of drizzle or light rain around, it seems like there’s a decent chance today still ends up a little cooler than yesterday.

[TT-SEA]

2 hours ago, MossMan said:

Too bad this isn’t centered over the fire in the north cascades. 

Just about to Spokane... nothing but sprinkles all the way across the state.    Road was dry the entire way.   Radar is sort of misleading. 

[Cold Snap]

Recorded my warmest low of the warm season so far this morning with a low of 58. Picked up 0.04” of precip so far.

 

[Cascadia_Wx]

Looks like there has been a trend toward building ridging slightly offshore in the 8-10 day range, as opposed to directly overhead. This could mitigate extreme heat potential some, but also increase the odds of more surface offshore flow, especially as we get into mid August and surface high pressure east of the cascades starts to become more of a thing. This would of course potentially be a big problem for fires.

[Phil]

13 minutes ago, Cold Snap said:

Recorded my warmest low of the warm season so far this morning with a low of 58.

[SouthHillFrosty]

Ended up with .04 today. Almost half of my July total