Welcome to monsoon season within the Northwest!
Showers unfold northward from Oregon this morning into Washington State (see radar at 6:30 AM this morning under). Usually just a few sprinkles, but it surely was good change in any case.
The moisture is related to a plume of water vapor popping out of the southwest—a northwestern extension of the Southwest Monsoon (additionally referred to as the North American Monsoon).
The water vapor satellite tv for pc picture this morning reveals the moisture plume
as does the infrared satellite tv for pc picture.
The Southwest Monsoon happens each summer season from roughly late June by late August. It happens as excessive strain tends to construct over roughly the New Mexico space, leading to moisture being swept up from the Gulf of Mexico, throughout Arizona and western New Mexico, after which up throughout Nevada into japanese Oregon (see schematic under, displaying upper-level heights at 500 hPa (you may consider this like strain at 18,000 ft). The white space reveals the route of the movement at that degree.
Through the previous day, the monsoon plume of moisture was supercharged by a powerful low heart that developed west of California (see map under, which reveals winds and heights/pressures at 500hPa/18,000 ft). This actually revved up the moisture-laden movement from the south.
Over the last 24 h (see under) the monsoon clouds/showers introduced gentle rain into japanese Oregon, with some spreading westward to the Cascades. Right here in Seattle, solely a couple of hint.
24h precipitation ending 10 AM Tuesday
Through the subsequent 24 hr, extra gentle showers will happen over the area because the low off California heads northwestward into our area. Under are the 24-h precipitation totals ending 5 PM Wednesday. You possibly can see the showers swirling across the low offshore and extra monsoon moisture heading up into japanese Oregon.
An attention-grabbing analysis query my group is engaged on offers with the implications of worldwide warming for regional precipitation and significantly monsoon moisture. Our preliminary work suggests MORE summer season monsoon precipitation over japanese Oregon as issues heat up (see under). However we’ve much more work with greater decision local weather simulations to nail this down.
Variations in summer season precipitation between the top of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. Inexperienced signifies extra summer season precipitation. These high-resolution local weather simulations assume a large enhance in CO2 (RCP 8.5 state of affairs)….in all probability manner an excessive amount of.
