It’s another beautiful, but terribly cold day in Kitsap County. I suppose the term “terribly cold” is all relative (which you will see in a moment), but this kind of weather is definitely not considered normal. To illustrate this point, let’s look at a snapshot of temperatures from 10:15 pm last night to 9:35 am this morning:

If you’re from North Dakota or Minnesota, you might think I’m demonstrating a heatwave, but in all reality this 12 hour stretch of temperatures in the upper teens to low 20s is impressive for the Seattle area. And you know what made it feel a little colder? Look how high the humidity was! Brrr…at least the wind wasn’t raging.

Anyway, I think it’s safe to assume all of you are enjoying this rare January sunshine. I sure hope you like it, because for the next 7 days or so skies will remain partly to mostly sunny with highs gradually making it into the low to mid 40s. Low temperatures will also slowly moderate to the low and mid 30s.

Now, if you think it’s been cold here, wait until you see some impressive pictures from Alaska’s most recent dramatic weather event. A warm, rainy system plowed through Anchorage on Monday, causing areas of flooding due to rapidly melting snow. What was interesting about this situation, however, is that it only took a matter of days before the snow came back and the roads iced up. Here are the results!

See, Anchorage seems to have caught on to our winter time patterns, except in reverse. Instead of going from snow to rain like us in Western Washington, they go from rain to snow. Pretty impressive (and dangerous!) patterns follow rain to snow events!

So there you have it. We are cold around here, but not THAT cold 😉

Have a great day everyone,

Matthew Leach

Forecasting Kitsap

Questions? Comments? E-mail me at: forecastingkitsap@live.com

**The Severe Weather Shelter is open today. Click here for more details**

I read a comment on one of the Kitsap Sun news stories about our recent snow that read something like, “Well, at least they didn’t call it Arctic Blast 2012”. That got me to thinking: What should we name this most recent snow event? Some Kitsap locations recorded over 3 feet without any arctic air, so surely “Arctic Blast” wouldn’t be the most appropriate name.

Then it hit me: SNOWPOCALYPSE 2012! So very fitting.

Here are some photos to remember this “snowpocalypse” by (December 15th-19th, 2012):

CUSHMAN-Photos by: Snowmizer

HOLLY AREA– Photos by: Don Geidel

HOODSPORT AREA- Photos by: Ida Graham (with Jerry Seterdahl)

**BONUS: Digging out the Northway ski lift at Crystal Mountain– Photo by: Jim Jarnigan

There you have it! Snowpocalypse 2012 🙂

Of course, several of us may not necessarily be done with the snow pictures this year. Forecast models are still very consistent in bringing in another round of heavy, wet snow for at least the western 2/3rds of Kitsap County and Mason County. I’ll give another Christmas snow update tomorrow 🙂 Until then, enjoy your Saturday!

Matthew Leach

Forecasting Kitsap

Questions? Comments? Photos? E-mail me at: forecastingkitsap@live.com

Yes, I will be the first one to admit it: the weather has been kind of slow around here. Oh sure, it’s nice to have the rain back and all, but wow I could’ve slept through this past week and not missed a thing weather-wise! 🙂 Despite rain every day in the forecast, there are some lovely fall colors out there that need to be taken advantage of before November rolls around! We all know what Western Washington’s November weather pattern is like!

Because of the nasty weather, how about I invite you to enjoy the fall foliage from the comfort of your home. All of these pictures actually come from my Dad, Greg Leach, who has recently taken photography as a hobby.

Isn’t the autumn season just great? Thanks Dad for the pictures! Do you have any pictures you’d like featured in the blog? Just shoot me an e-mail at: forecastingkitsap@live.com

As for the forecast, I’m keeping my eyes on a potentially heavy rain event on the 29th. Remember when I alluded to this a few days ago? Yeah, it still looks like apart of the plan. I’ll keep you updated on the potential and we’ll also revisit the Halloween forecast 🙂

Until then, have a great day! Stay dry and warm,

Matthew Leach

Forecasting Kitsap

It’s good to be back in Washington. When we arrived last night, there was a dramatic temperature difference of about 20 degrees, and boy did it feel great!

As we scaled the Cascades on our return trip, we caught this picture of clouds streaming down the mountains:

Of course, that picture just doesn’t do the actual sight justice! But I found a few other weather photos taken this weekend that you may be interested in.

Phoenix, Arizona (submitted by nukegm, WeatherUnderground)

Clearwater, Florida (submitted by davebarber2, WeatherUnderground)

McKinney, Texas (submitted by DizzyBazinga, WeatherUnderground)

Dust storm approaching a town in Arizona (submitted by nukegm, WeatherUnderground)

Usually these cool pictures come just before, during or immediately after severe storms. I kinda wish we had more storms over on this side so we could snap some cool photos! But Western Washington’s stormy period doesn’t start until October, so we have a ways to go 😉 If you have any cool weather photos to share, feel free to e-mail them to me at: forecastingkitsap@live.com

As for your 7 day forecast, isn’t it amazing to believe we were well into the 90s this past weekend and will be as low as the mid 60s by Thursday? Summer will take a brief break as Tuesday through Friday highs will dip well below normal in the mid to upper 60s with mostly cloudy skies.

The weekend forecast is still a little iffy as of now. Some models are saying a strong trough of low pressure will swing through the area, while others paint a large ridge of high pressure building up, which would bring high temperatures to normal or above normal levels. For now, I left the forecast mostly cloudy with highs below normal, but that’s subject to change!

Stay tuned to this blog for further updates!

Matthew Leach

Forecasting Kitsap

forecastingkitsap@live.com