Northwest Weather

Northwest Weather

Bite-sized forecast: A look at the Northwest Oregon snowfall forecast

Bite-sized forecast: A look at the Northwest Oregon snowfall forecast

I don’t often do forecasts for Oregon, but I know a handful of people who are in special need of a local forecast, so here we go! The setup An area of low pressure at the surface is going to swirl off the coast tonight and into tomorrow pushing moisture into an environment that is near or below freezing from… Read more →

Rick Smith helps those with Severe Weather Anxiety

Rick Smith helps those with Severe Weather Anxiety

Rick Smith, the Warning Coordination Meteorologist at the Norman, Oklahoma National Weather Service office is doing great things to help those that are struggling with Severe Weather Anxiety. In the clinical world, sometimes this is called Lilapsophobia. That is an abnormal fear of tornadoes or hurricanes. “There are different levels of severe storm anxiety,” Smith said. “You an have a… Read more →

Short term forecast from the WPC

Short term forecast from the WPC

From the WPC: Widespread precipitation will continue across the southwestern corner of the Nation late this week as a deep upper trough edges southeastward towards northern Mexico and low-level winds ahead of the trough pump anomalous Pacific moisture inland. Orographic effects will help produce hefty totals along the upslope side of the terrain…and temperatures should be low enough to support… Read more →

It's been wet in Oregon!

It’s been wet in Oregon!

After a relatively dry spring and summer, winter has started early. For most of the state of Oregon it has been a very wet September. In fact, the wettest ever. Recap And after the latest storm moved through, most of the Pacific Northwest is looking at the record books – and adding a new Number One. A rare major september… Read more →

Tornado Video of the Day: “Dust Devil near Salem, Oregon on 2010-08-05”

This is a pretty cool video that also gives me a chance to explain these very cool phenomena.

Dust Devil:
These form when instability hot air rises quickly through a small pocket of cool air above it. The air begins to spin and – because hot air rises – the rising air is stretched out. As the rising air is stretched, it thins and moves closer together.

The rising column of air pulls more hot air into it. As the hot air rises, it cools, moves outward and descends. The eventuality is a self-sustaining rotating column of air!