Much to UW weather professor Cliff Mass’s contentment, this January will indeed go down in the record books as the warmest ever —47 degrees compared to the “normal” 40. Heck, 47 degrees is the average MARCH temperature around here.
Weather-wise, this month has been able to produce so many versions of what hell might actually look and feel like that I may just never sin again. So why has the weather been so putrid lately? We all know by now that El Nino is messing with the jet stream (wind currents), splitting to our north and south, leaving us with wimpy remnants of would-be storms. But we can also thank this anomalous event right off our coast:
That, my friends, is an incredibly dramatic area of low pressure. And this would normally cause intense storms to slam into our region, but it’s not positioned correctly. Instead, we’ve been on the backside of this low, swinging a series of warm, southerly weather systems into our area, thus causing our warmest January ever!
I’m still not convinced this winter is over, however. Why? Because I am, whether foolishly or not, holding out hope for SOMETHING. No scientific reasoning behind my conviction, I just can’t admit defeat I suppose.
Either way, what you’re seeing outside your window will be a familiar picture until maybe mid-late week this upcoming week as high pressure briefly rebuilds over the area. High temperatures will remain in the 40s to low 50s.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Matthew Leach
Forecasting Kitsap
Questions? Comments? E-mail me at: forecastingkitsap@live.com
7 DAY FORECAST
I have compiled all of my data this month RECORD HIGH MONTHLY AVERAGE of 47.7 degrees 6.37 inches of rain avearge high of 49.7 degrees and the MOST BORING month on record
woops not 6.37 5.37