104 Today, Hot Across Much of the NW

Thanks to this thermal low, western oregon saw some of the hottest temps since 2003. We expect a cool down, but not much by tomorrow, highs in the low 90's for much of the NW, except for the coast. The thermal low is moving across eastern oregon, then trecks south. Onshore flow should kick back in and cool the days dramatically through the remainder of the week. One question I thought would be good to ask the NWS is why they never issued heat warnings for the central and south willamette valley as well? Thats something I think they need to work on, although this is a new heat forecasting warning system they have in place. Another question that tops peoples minds are whether or not hot summers lead to cold and extreme winters? The only winter so far that had a hot summer and a good cold/snow event was 2003-2004, leading up to the end of december snow as well as the new years eve snow event that later turned into an extreme ice event. It's something I will be looking into as the summer progresses. We also need to keep an eye on the tropics. There is a 50/50 chance we can see a weak La Nina by winter or a weak El Nino. Right now there is no reason to suspect El Nino at this time, but ocean temperatures are moderating a bit to the warmer side. Will keep this monitored and give you the latest scoop as time progresses.

Live Weather Feed Back!

I got my weather station back online and even better. If you scroll down the main page, or look on the "Weather Around the NW" page you'll see my stations weather magnet. If you click on that, you will be taken to Weather Underground and you'll see a live weather graphic. That live feed updates every 2 seconds, instantly. Now I can continue to gather my own weather data for McMinnville which is good to have. I also finally got the new links up, give me a comment on what you think about the site.

New Thunderstorm Pictures are up!

Just a heads up that I posted some pictures I took of a Thunderstorm in mid may. Some of the pictures are pretty cool. Check them out here.

New Weather Hotline and Research Plans

I will be installing a weather hotline for the McMinnville Weather Center for those around the NW who can call in weather reports and ask questions. The phone I will be using is IP voice over, so it's not long distance. I will post more when I get the phone set up. Now, I have contacted a friend about a research oppertunity for NW Oregon Snowfall. If he agree's, then I will start looking for grants. I will need an abundance of sensors and equipment to observe snowfall and create snow models, gather important data and find a way to better predict snowfall in western oregon. As you all know, snowfall is probally one of the most hardest things to predict in the NW. You have so much that go's into a snowfall, such as climate, orographics, storm track and the gorge outflow. Since we have the pacific influence, we tend to stay warm in winter, so we know we need a good flow of cold air. Ingredients have to be perfect in order to see snow. I'll have more on that later as well.

New Weather Software/Weird Weather Patterns

Im in the process of gathering all the weather software I need to be able to do research, monitor and track storms as well as gathering data important to what I need. Im setting up an all out weather center with two running computers, one for my web site junk, second..strictly for weather models and programs. It will allow me to do everything more smoothly and track important weather events to give you forecast's and predictions. I will also be a little more organized. Now that I am done with school for the summer, awaiting college..I will be able to spend more time on developing McMinnville Weather.com. Weird Weather Patterns... I have to note the fact that this wet, chilly weather pattern we are in isn't rare, but it is unusual even more due to whats happening down in the tropics. Now I haven't talked much about the SST's, but recently water temperatures have been on the rise. We are currently in a neutal stage as of now, as for an up coming el-nino? Too early to tell. It will be interesting to see if we do head into an el nino, but now that we are in summer, i'd expect water temperatures to rise a little due to the angle of the sun and extra heating. We'll see.

A warm up finally! But quiet in the long term...

Finally some nice summer-like weather in store for the NW. Nothing too exciting in the long term forecast's either, this is when the weather calms down for a couple of months and post's would seem so meaningless. But that won't keep me from posting other news involving weather. I'll start posting quizes and weather facts as time progresses. Oh, a delay on the buttons, I have to prepare for my ceremony on Friday. Take care!