The Fall So Far

We are now over two months into autumn....what kind of fall has it been? 

Temperature-wise over the West Coast (see below)...nothing unusual.  Slightly cooler than normal over most of Washington and Oregon, grading to warmer than normal over the southernmost portions of California.  Toasty in Arizona.

Precipitation has been a bit more interesting.  Coastal Washington and northwest Oregon has been substantially wetter than normal, as have the western slopes of the Cascades.  This last week, of course has been quite wet.

Slightly drier than normal in southern CA.

All the precipitation has been good for business in terms of filling area reservoirs.   The critical Yakima reservoir system is well above normal (blue is current and red is normal), with the combination of heavy precipitation and warmth causing a huge rise in the reservoir levels the past few days. (Note that the current reservoir storage is what would be normal for middle January).

 So things are looking good for Yakima Valley's agriculture next year.   Lots of hops, grapes, and veggies.  Seattle's reservoirs are in good shape as well.

An important element of the eastern WA water supply is the snowpack, and the latest graphic of the snow-water content of the regional snowpack is generally near normal.   Unusually large values in the sodden Olympic Range.  Importantly, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is excellent.

What about the next week?  One weather system after another...with nothing serious (e.g., big winds or heavy rains).  One-week totals from the NWS GFS model (below) are substantial (5-10 inches) over the Olympics, North Cascades and southern BC, and even northern CA gets wetted down.

And there is some good news for skiers.  

Temperatures have been cooling, and although there will be some brief warm interludes, there will be snow at higher elevations above the mountains (particularly above 4000 ft).  The 72hr total snowfall ending 4 PM Wednesday (below) shows several feet of new snow at elevation.  Snoqualmie will be too warm.  Sorry.

In general, a typical fall for our region.

from Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog http://ift.tt/2iQJsuB