Major Atmospheric River Coming, A Good Weekend, Big Waves, and My New Podcast is Online

2 min read

My new podcast is out: I discuss our weekend weather forecast, including a beautiful Saturday with easterly winds in the foothills, a decent Sunday, and a deluge that is expected on Tuesday and Wednesday as a major atmospheric river hits our region.

And in the second segment, I examine a question that I have gotten from many of you: what is the energy source of storms? Turns out that tropical storms and our midlatitude cyclones acquire their energy in different ways.

Here is my podcast:

Click the play button to listen or use your favorite streaming service (see below)

Some highlights for today

A major storm is developing off our coast (see weather map for 1 PM today) and will produce big waves that will reach our coast Sunday morning. Good time for wave watching (waves as high as 20-30 feet along our coast) . 959 hPa low center–a major storm with hurricane force winds.

Strong easterly flow will descend into the western Cascade foothills on Sunday afternoon and evening, with gusts to 30-50 mph in places. Strong southeasterly winds will also occur over Northwest Washington and along the coast (see wind gust forecast at 7 PM Saturday).

Finally, there is the Tuesday-Wednesday deluge as a major atmospheric river hits our region.

The forecast total water vapor for Tuesday morning shows the plume of moisture coming right into Washington State.

And the 72-h total precipitation forecasts ending on Wednesday at 4 PM show as much as 5-10 inches in the mountains. Worry about flooding and landslides.