A couple of years ago, I posted about a new radar on Washington's coast near Aberdeen proposed by the National Weather service. Now, more than two years later, the new radar will finally be up and running next Friday. The only other radars in this region are one in Portland and one Camano Island, which is partially blocked by the Olympic Mountain range. Now we'll have more accurate predictions for how much rain will fall on short notice. This kind of accuracy could have helped people prepare better for the Chehalis River floods in 2007. The radar can take readings as far away as 240 miles off the coast. It is also a dual radar, the first in the nation, which can measure incoming clouds vertically as well as horizontally. It cost $9 million, $2 million more than the proposed cost.

It's fitting, since today is the first day of fall and our rainy season will start in the coming months. We've been warned that this could be another La Niña year, with a wetter and colder winter, but we'll see what happens. For now, we'll enjoy the new fall weather.

We couldn't use the heaters at our old apartment because we blocked them with furniture. Our bed area was so small that the bed covered up the vent and our bookcase was in the way of the heater in the living area. We only needed to run them maybe a week or so out of the whole year anyway, so it wasn't a big deal.

But now at our new place, we are able to keep the heaters free since we have more room. It's been cold lately too, so we've had to use them quite a bit. Our new building doesn't seem as well insulated as old our apartment building either, so I'm curious to see how much our electric bill will go up. We've been running the heat daily. They generate some pretty hot air, which is nice to sit in front of if I'm cold. Hopefully it will get a little warmer soon so we don't have to run it as much.

We've had some very cold weather the last several days, which has brought snow and ice to the area. It was really windy, with gusts up to 30 miles per hour last night, which blew the snow everywhere and made roads worse. Some of my coworkers who ride the bus to work said it took them anywhere from 3 to 8 hours to get home last night.

It seems to get this cold once or twice a year, and then the rest of the winter is more mild. Here's a few numbers from our unseasonal cold and snow, which originally appeared on Ballard Komo News:

2.7" – That’s how much snowfall we received in Seattle Monday. Not a huge snowstorm, but enough for a daily record and the most snow we’ve had in the city before Thanksgiving since 1985.

89 – The number of consecutive hours that we will stay at/below freezing in Seattle. We started on Sunday evening and we won’t get above freezing until noon on Thursday.

32, 28, 30 – The high temperature from Monday, followed by the forecast for today and tomorrow. Longest cold snap in Seattle in November since mid 80s.

1985 – The last time we were this cold and snowy in mid-November. It has been a generation since we’ve seen something like this.

15 – That’s how cold we will be Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. This will likely set a new daily record for Seattle.

15" – The highest snow total I’ve seen so far. That’s from Snoqualmie Pass.

41 – The forecast high for Thanksgiving, the first day above 40 degrees since Saturday.

0 – The number of meteorologists, myself included, that saw this exact chain of events coming in advance.

Here's a video of the snow falling:

Snowing in Seattle! on Vimeo.

The weather was beautiful yesterday - clear skies filled with crisp fall air. Since I chose to drive to work, I wasn't able to enjoy the weather as much as I could've if I walked and took the bus to work. I was driving home with my window rolled down and when I turned on a street near our apartment, I heard a noise that I immediately knew was the sound of one of our car's hubcaps falling off.

This wasn't totally unexpected as our car's wheel covers have been cracked almost since the car was new, and each visit to the tire shop to have our tires rotated came with a warning that our hubcaps were cracked. In fact, last time I was told that if I didn't take the wheel covers off, they would come off on the road.

I was able to park on the next block to go pick the wheel cover up off the street. We had been planning to get new wheel covers soon anyway, so I suppose this was just a good reminder to do that.

Whenever we go to the coast, we always see "tsunami evacuation route" signs and are amused since it seems so foreign to us having not grown up in this area. Some locals in small towns along the coast have removed the signs so that tourists aren't scared away. But tsunamis really are very dangerous and apparently the West Coast is totally unprepared for such an event. Apparently there's a series of 39 buoys all along the coast from Alaska to South America that are supposed to detect tsunami waves and alert areas that will be affected by them. However as many as a third of them are down for maintenance issues at various times.

The last earthquake and tsunami from the Cascadia fault occurred 300 years ago. The last tsunami to hit the northwest coast was in 1964 when an Alaska earthquake caused a tsunami that damaged Cannon Beach, OR. Here's an excerpt from a Seattle Times article that explains what parts of the northwest coast are considering in order to be more prepared for tsunamis:

The Oregon town of Cannon Beach is considering construction of an earthquake- and tsunami-resistant building that could serve both as a city hall and a refuge. On Washington's Long Beach Peninsula, where there's very little high ground, leaders are mulling the idea of building berms where people could gather to escape a tsunami surge.

We live near Puget Sound, which isn't that close to the Pacific Ocean, so tsunamis aren't as big of a threat to us, but are still possible.

Here are some pictures Troy took at the Lake Union Park opening last Saturday. We added to an existing gallery, so be sure to check out the second page of photos. There was a lot more people and a lot less food there than we were expecting at the park opening. We did see some guys cooking salmon on an open fire which I'd never seen before. We were sort of hungry after we'd been there a while, so we bought some cheese bread and banana bread from the farmer's market. We also bought some blueberry jam from a local farmer and it was really good. The weather was also incredible for late September, with a high around 75 and completely sunny.

Last summer we had an all-time record high of 103 in Seattle. We had several weeks where the highs were in the 90s.

But this summer has been completely different. Apparently, there has been a strong high-pressure system over a large portion of the Pacific ocean which has been pushing cooler air into Washington. When you add in storm systems coming south from Alaska, we've had lots of cloudy and cool summer days this year. Here's an excerpt from a Seattle Times article:

Since July 10, the data paint an even glummer picture: nine hours a day of low cloud cover, compared to the seasonal average of 1.6 hours.

This summer appears to be the most cloud-shrouded in Seattle since measurements were started in 1951, UW postdoctoral researcher Jim Johnstone said.

I really don't mind the cloudy, cooler weather. The weather is one of the reasons we moved to Seattle. I love being able to go outside and not being all sweaty after 5 minutes. It's too bad my parents couldn't have had this nice weather when they were here last summer. It cleared up this afternoon and should be sunny the rest of the week, with highs in the mid-80s this weekend.

I thought this was an interesting article about the best and worst rated cities to visit during the summer:

Looking at the results of Travel + Leisure’s annual America’s Favorite Cities survey, we found that the recipe [for a good destination] is simple:

Good weather: It’s no surprise that some of the hottest cities in the summer ranked the lowest.

Family-friendliness: With the kids home June through August, cities with offerings for the whole clan fared best.

Great parks and easy access to the outdoors: Out of the 10 cities voted the best for summer travel, 8 also landed in the Top 10 for parks.

Fantastic farmers’ markets: Simple pleasures make a difference; great local produce and purveyors helped sway opinions.

Not surprisingly, Seattle is #3 on the list, while Portland is #1. Both have excellent park systems, great weather, and lots of farmer's markets. Rounding out the top 5 are Denver at #2, San Diego at #4, and Minneapolis/St Paul at #5.

Here's the top 5 on the list of worst cities to visit in the summer:

1. Phoenix/Scottsdale
2. Dallas/Fort Worth
3. Atlanta
4. Houston
5. New Orleans

The bad thing about these cities is that the weather is just sweltering in the summer and there isn't much in the way of outdoor activities for families.

Yesterday was mine and Troy's 9 year dating anniversary. To celebrate, we went to the Cascade Farmer's Market near our apartment, which is every Thursday during the summer. This is the first Thursday of the summer that the market has been there. We bought some pretty flowers, fresh raspberries and strawberries, and some strawberry rhubarb ice cream.

After that we went to Denny Park and sat on a bench for a little while enjoying the awesome weather. Since Troy's last post about the cloudy weather, it totally cleared up this week and we had highs in the mid 70s.

This weekend we plan on watching the US vs Ghana soccer match on Saturday and we're going to a cook out at one of my coworker's houses on Sunday. I'm really looking forward to a nice weekend.

After our first year of living here, I said the weather was one of my favorite things about Seattle. I did dislike the dark winter days, but felt that the rest of the year made up for it. The weather is generally fairly moderate - no major snowstorms and, more importantly, summer temps aren't too hot. I got so tired of the high temps in Texas that summer high temps averaging in the 70s felt great.

The first year we were here, the cool spring weather was refreshing and I didn't mind that early June temps stayed below 60 for almost a full week, though I was told that wasn't normal. After that first week of June, the summer was great.

However, that winter was the terrible winter storm that almost kept us here for Christmas and paralyzed the city. There was snow, snow, and more snow. I was also told that wasn't normal.

After that winter, I was happy that the next summer got comfortably warm earlier in the year. But then it got warmer and warmer, and set an all time record high of 103. However, there were only a couple unpleasantly warm weeks during that summer - same as the summer before - so we didn't have much problem getting by without air conditioning.

This past winter, was rainy, but we had the warmest January on record, and I appreciated the moderate weather.

But now, in early June, yet again, the summer weather hasn't shown up yet. Worse, it's been cloudy most of the time, including all of this weekend. We did have some nice sunshine on Friday, and I was fortunate to get off of work a little early to enjoy it. But last week I was on my way to work in 50º weather, with rain and heavy wind (and complete cloud cover). And seriously, look at the temperatures yesterday:



Not only did we have cool weather, but there was solid cloud cover all day, with some rain. People consider this to be unusual as well.

The summer, when it does show up, will be excellent I'm sure. The summers are awesome here - three of the best months anywhere. But, this atypical, unpleasant weather seems to be more typical than I had realized.

I do like the cooler weather, generally, but the worst part of the cool weather is the lack of sunshine. Maybe I'm just being too critical, at least it's not 100º.

We were forunate to have had a warm winter. However, unfortunately, summer is late to arrive.

It's already May, yet it was 42 degrees the past two mornings and the high temperature has been only 52 today and yesterday. There was also a lot of clouds and rain during the day today.

And, while it's overall less windy here than in Texas, it has been very windy lately. Since it's colder here overall the wind seems more annoying because it makes it colder.

The wind speed yesterday was around 20 mph with gusts up to 35, and has been up to 15 mph the last few days.

These temperatures are lower than average - normally it would be getting up to the low 60s, which isn't warm but can be comfortable. This cold weather makes me even more excited for summer weather, which is normally very pleasant and should be here soon.

We had our best weather in 6 months this past Sunday, with a high near 70 and clear, sunny skies. The summer is just around the corner and I can't wait to go to some of the festivals in Seattle in a few weeks. The Cheese Festival at Pike Place Market and the U-District Street fair are both the weekend of May 15th. The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) runs from May 20th-June 13th. And the Northwest Folklife Festival is Memorial Day weekend. I love going to festivals here because of all the good food, music, and having fun outside in the awesome weather here.

I used to check the weather forecast often and used it to set my expectations for what the weather would be like. However, the forecast has been wrong so many times in Seattle that I've learned not to pay much attention to it anymore.

While the forecast in TX was often not accurate more than a few days ahead, sometimes the forecast for Seattle isn't accurate for the next day. Too many times I've been expecting nice weather and then have been disappointed with a day of rain.

The weather patterns here are complicated and are affected by the water and the mountains. Often there is a big difference in the weather between where we live and 20 miles in any direction.

So, because of all that, I think I'll be better off not paying too much attention to the weather forecast.

We've had a couple thunderstorms since we moved here, but the storms here are so much shorter and less impressive than what we used to get in Texas. We've missed the crack and rumble of thunder, which convey such power and excitement through the downpour of rain.

So, to try to provide the experience we missed, we purchased a Thunderstorm CD.
And, while it provides the sound of a Thunderstorm, for the most part, I miss feeling the thunder, seeing the lightning, and smelling the rain.

It's nice that we've been having such a nice winter here in Seattle. No snow, and not much rain the past 6 weeks. January set a record for warm weather and so far February is looking warm too. The high the next several days is going to be in the mid-50s, with sunny skies. It's nice being able to look out the windows at work and see the clear skies and snow-capped mountains in the distance. These streaks of sunny days remind me of how much I really do love living here.

This January was the warmest on record in Seattle. We started to notice a few weeks ago how we haven't had as much rain and how it's been a lot warmer than last year in January. It's definitely been great with highs most days in the upper 40s and lower 50s. It's made the winter a lot easier to handle. The National Weather Service is predicting a warmer, dryer weather through the rest of winter and into early spring, yay!

Here's an excerpt from an article on Komonews.com:

The average temperature was 46.97 degrees -- toppling the record of 46.56 degrees set in 2006, and a full six degrees above the normal average of 40.9 degrees. In fact, it's even warmer than a typical March! (which has an average temperature of 46.2 degrees.)

Persistent El Nino conditions were a factor for most of the month, which typically keeps the Pacific Northwest in a warmer air flow. In addition, an unusually strong and stubborn area of low pressure parked off our coast for several days, streaming warm, moist air from the tropical Pacific into Western Washington.

January 27th's 35 degree low was the only day the temperature dropped to 35 or colder. There were only five days in the month with a low below 40. We also had 9 days at 55 or warmer with a four day string of 59, 60, 57 and 56 degrees between Jan 18-21.

Since I posted about the 5 days of rainy weather in the forecast, we've had hardly any rain. So, I got all upset about the weather when the forecast was very inaccurate.

The day I posted, Friday, actually did have quite a bit of rain - over half an inch. But, since then, we've just had mostly cloudy skies without much rain. The weekend started with some fog, and there was a total of .12 inches of rain, which must have fallen overnight because I don't remember it. Then, yesterday and today there wasn't any rain (although it's raining some this evening).

It's interesting how the forecast so strongly predicted rain and we had hardly any, but it's not uncommon for the forecast to be wrong. The weather here is somewhat complicated and meteorology just isn't as much of an exact science as it tends to be in other parts of the country.

Or, maybe it's that during the winter, meteorologists join in with other Seattleites who like to perpetuate the kinds of myths that keep too many people from moving here. All that rain seems like a good way to deter too many prospective residents from taking over the city. But I think I'd rather just have an accurate forecast.

This morning we awoke to find a lot of fog outside our window. This picture was taken around 9 am:



The fog cleared up though, as you can see in this picture taken around 10:30.



We went to the Space Needle later and took a few pictures from there. I was hoping to catch a few more pictures of the fog over Seattle, but as you can see, it had already mostly dissipated, though there was still a blanket of fog over Lake Washington and the Eastside. Click the image below for more photos from the Space Needle:

The weather we've had lately has been very wet. For much of the past week, it's been cloudy and rainy the entire day. And, unfortunately, it looks like it will be that way for at least a few days more.



Often we'll have several hours of sun on the days where the forecast expects rain, but I never know whether to expect the sun. I don't mind cooler weather and clouds, but I do get tired of consecutive days of rain. But, on the bright side, the days are getting longer, and I'm sure we'll see the sun on a few of these rainy days.

Today has been a fun day so far. We started out by taking the #8 bus to get our usual bagels at Noah's. We brought an asiago and two super onion bagels back to the apartment to eat for breakfast. After that, we went downtown to go to Pike Place Market. The weather has been nice here the last few days with highs in the upper 40s and even the 50s today, which is much better than most of the rest of the country. It was nice walking around the market with such great weather. We got some wild blackberry honey from the Snoqualmie Valley honey farm stand that we've gotten honey from before. We also went to World Market where Troy found some red tea he'd been wanting recently and we also got some balsamic vinegar since some recipes we've wanted to try call for it.

After that we went to Gap so I could look for more winter clothes. I was surprised at how much winter stuff was on clearance and really cheap. I got 4 long sleeved shirts for $28 total! I should do all my shopping at Old Navy and Gap from now on. Then we walked all the way through Belltown and Lower Queen Anne in an attempt to eat at Tup Tim Thai that we'd been wanting to go to for a while. Unfortunately we found out that it's only open from 5-11 Saturday, so we went to a Greek place called the Athina Grill instead. Troy had been wanting a gyro for a while. We both got one and it was really filling and good. I got a salad with mine and Troy got fries with his.

We hung out in Counterbalance park for a few minutes waiting for the bus, which we took home. What a great day to be outside in Seattle! Pike Place Market is definitely one of my favorite places to go to.