News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
News, views and advertising of the Grand Coulee Dam Area
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Back in June 2015, only six years ago, we had a local June high temperature record set at 105˚F. Well, with the onset of a high-pressure system, or heat dome, that sat over us in late June, a new record was established. Fact is, it occurred twice – June 28th and 29th. The high temperature record for June is now 112˚F, just one degree off the official all-time high temperature for our area set 82 years ago, in July 1939 at 113˚F. What caused the heatwave in late June that has intensified the...
As we linger on the dry side of precipitation in our region, it’s prudent to check dedicated weather sources that, as part of their work, speak to near-future weather and wildfire conditions. Let’s start with the Office of Predictive Services at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. A specific comment is made in the June 1 Wildland Fire Potential Outlook that addresses the Northwest region: “The driest area in the region is the Columbia Basin. Green up is variable or compl...
Climatologists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s office of National Centers for Environmental Information are recalculating the nation’s Climate Normals covering the span of 1991-2020. This process occurs every 30 years. It started in 1935 when the International Meteorological Organization, now called World Meteorological Organization, asked its nation members to calculate “climate normals” using a 30-year period, starting with 1901-1930. For the first time, the update w...
Here I’ve shared how scientists develop forecasts and predictions of our planet’s weather: from ground and airborne observations and data from stationary and orbiting satellites. Those data that are gathered are put through algorithms on computers that help create weather forecasts and predictions. It’s not a perfect science and likely never will be. So, how are scientists gathering data on what weather occurred in the past — way back before people predicted our weather — even before people? Pal...
A portion of the geographic United States, specifically the Southern Plains and Gulf Coast, were hit hard in late February with unusual life-threatening winter weather. The state of Texas became the epicenter of this winter event for several reasons. Widespread power outages, freezing water pipes and significant snowfall occurred, which, in some parts of Texas and the Gulf Coast is a rare happening. What was the cause — the Polar Jet Stream or the Arctic Polar Vortex? First, let’s take a loo...
Last month we addressed the general state of air quality monitoring across the nation and more specifically here in the state of Washington and locally. To summarize, the agencies that are charged with the matters of informing their public of air quality issues are lacking. Regrettably, their bureaucratic hands are somewhat inhibited due to funding shortfalls amid other things. Regarding awareness of local air quality, up until the past few years, we simply didn't know what was happening with...
The atmosphere that encircles our planet protects and sustains all living things. The Stratosphere is home to the Ozone layer, some 12 to 25 miles above us, protecting us from solar radiation. The layer we spend our lives in, the lower portion of the Troposphere, provides that sustenance we all need - breathable air. What we breath includes various gases -- about 78 percent nitrogen, 21 percent oxygen, 0.9 percent argon, and 0.1 percent other gases. What happens when human activities and...
A new study was recently published in the journal Science that chronicles three decades of arctic animal movements. The study is called Arctic Animal Movement Archive. There have been over 200 studies addressing the impacts on 86 species of animals that call the Arctic home. "There's changes everywhere you look – everything is changing," said Dr. Gil Bohrer, an author of the new archive. The culmination of 30 years of studies had been carried out by more than 100 universities, government a...
We aren’t out of Autumn yet and already we’ve had a reminder of winter weather. Though, our recent “winter” weather event wasn’t unprecedented. The records show that we’ve had five occurrences of snow in October dating back to 1934 when records started. In fact, in 1971, we had 1.3 inches of snowfall. John Steinbeck once said, “What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” Winter will arrive soon enough. Let us take a look at what we might expect to see....
Once again, we endured the intrusion of wildfire smoke into our atmosphere. The National Weather Service has taken note by releasing interesting data regarding wildfire smoke. The data show the percentage of time certain areas have had smoke days for the months of August and September going back to 2006 and compare how often National Weather Service stations in the Spokane County Warning Area reported smoke or haze. The weather stations include: Coeur d'Alene, Spokane (Spokane International...
If you live in the Coulee, it’s likely you have an inkling of glacial history and the power that can be unleashed by glaciers. The Grand Coulee is prime evidence of glacial activity. There have been about a half dozen major Ice Ages in the history of Earth over the past three billion years. The landscape we live on was, in part, created by glacial activity, cataclysmic flooding and thousands of years of lava flows. Drive the Coulee Corridor and read the new roadside exhibits, or read about t...
Grand Coulee creates an image in our minds - the Grand Coulee Dam or the City of Grand Coulee, maybe the general area around the dam. Of course, the Grand Coulee, as well. However, where is Grand Coulee National Park? Well, the story of what could have been a national park goes back some 108 years to1912. Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the American Geographical Society of New York, an organized excursion was planned and implemented — The Transcontinental Excursion of 1912. Geologists and ge...
We know all too well the complete destruction that wildfires can cause. Over the past several years we’ve witnessed numerous, nearby, destructive wildfires. We are not immune to the outcome of wildfire. Can we better suppress and understand wildfire and the elements that comprise wildfire? The answer is probably yes. The past few decades, engineers, scientists and wildfire managers have collaborated to jointly create new tools and techniques to better fight and understand wildfire. My first expo...
From a respectable distance, we all enjoy watching an active thunderstorm and the lightning show. When it’s close, hopefully we’re practicing common sense and sheltering ourselves from what could be a deadly lightning strike. It’s spectacular stuff; lightning flashes, then we hear the crackling and boom sound that accompanies lightning. I’m sure we have all seen some really awesome storms with lightning displays that are spell binding. Most folks generally know what lightning is, I think....
Some have asked what we can expect this summer — weather and wildfire conditions. I’ll share what the Washington state climatologist states in the most recent monthly report: “The National Climate Prediction Center (CPC) May outlook has increased chances of above normal temperatures across the entire state. Slightly lower chances of above normal temperatures exist for a pocket in the northeast corner. The May precipitation outlook is split with equal chances of above, below or equal preci...
Given the current threat of the Novel Coronavirus and its potential effect on humanity, I thought I’d write about viruses in general. I’ll address the fact that viruses are in our atmosphere and ride air currents, eventually dropping to the ground regularly. They are abundant. They have been on the planet for at least 300 million years. Viruses are the most abundant microbes on the planet. We are host to them as well; they are part of the body’s microbiome. Let’s start with a highly abridge...
I spend some time looking over weather and climate research sites. Generally, there’s something interesting that captures my attention. These are things that I like to share with you. Recently, I came across the term “flash drought.” I had never heard this term before. The National Weather Service’s (NWS) Climate Prediction Center defines a flash drought as “an event during which an area experiences degradation by two or more drought categories in a four-week period, based on the U.S. Drought M...
Since 1980, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has tracked United States weather and climate events. This tracking process is specific and addresses the economic and societal impacts. So far, the United States has sustained well over 250 weather events where the overall damage costs reached or surpassed the mark of $1 billion. The year 2019 witnessed many costly weather or climate events. A total of 14 events s...
Happy New Year to each of you, and welcome to the new Roaring Twenties! I’ll start off by gazing into the crystal ball of long-range weather prediction. The dedicated public servants with the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) at the National Weather Service have done well with the prediction for these past months. We’ve seen higher-than-average temperatures and less-than-average precipitation. So, what are their predictions for the next three months — January, February and March 2020? For the n...
The air around us is polluted, and the level of pollution in our air varies constantly. The causes of the pollution fluctuate as well. The pollution consists of gases and particulate matter. Common “natural” sources are forest and range fires, volcanic activity and various gases that originate in nature. Most all of these natural sources are not constant, unlike the sources that humanity produces on a recurring and regular basis. Envision pre-historic human activity after fire became part of...
Scientists have been coring glacial ice fields for some time now. One objective is to analyze the small atmospheric gas bubbles that got trapped as the ice formed. These gas bubbles contain atmospheric gases from our ancient past. Much of the research is done to address climate change. The Antarctic has proven to be the place where past climate clues can be found and by past, I mean long, long ago. Up until recently, the oldest complete Antarctica ice core data took the research back some...
Not a day goes by that we don’t see them — if we’re looking. In the trees, on the ground and, of course, in the sky. They are at their most majestic when in flight. Soaring through the lower atmosphere with a blue sky as background, a wonderful sight. The bigger ones catch our attention most it seems. We try to identify them — hawk, vulture, falcon or the bald eagle. Some of us feed them at our feeding stations. Some of us hunt certain types of birds and look forward to the bounty of our hun...
This time around we’ll be looking at the historic weather results for our summer – June, July and August and the summer of 2019. We’ll also take a look-see at what is being predicted for our upcoming winter – December, January and February 2019-20. First, let’s delve into the world of predicted weather as provided by the Climate Prediction Center (CPC). The CPC, as I’ve mentioned before, is a service of the National Weather Service, an agency under the broader umbrella of the National Oc...
The recent discussion about a new jail for Grant County, illegal drug use and the criminal actions created by drug users, focused my attention on a policy issue that the nation needs to be talking about. Certainly, if the nation won’t, the states should. Drug addiction is a real societal disease that has high costs in human lives, property loss and community resources. Smoke it, inject it or swallow it, and more is needed to keep the fix going. The fix wares off and the user scurries around, d...
As global temperatures rise (June 2019 was the hottest June ever recorded) they tend to sustain wildfires. Earlier this summer, in June and July, hundreds of long-lived, intense wildfires burned within the Arctic Circle. Most of the fire activity was in Alaska and Siberia. Alaska alone had over 400 wildfires. There were also large fires in Greenland. Associated with these large-scale fires is the release of tiny particles — megatons of particulate matter. Black carbon particulates, also known a...