A New Environmental Challenge for Seattle: RABBITS!

There is much talk in the Seattle media of invading hordes changing the nature of Seattle, with Amazon employees and homeless folks being the most frequently mentioned.

But the Seattle media has chosen to ignore an invasion that has become increasingly serious during the past year:

The appearance of huge numbers of bunnies around the city.

Cute, fluffy creatures that are eating their way through Seattle's vegetable gardens and lawns.

I bike to work each day along the Burke-Gilman trail.  Before this year I never saw bunnies...now I see at least a half dozen each morning.

Bunny in Seattle's Magnuson Park

One of my favorite activities is to run or walk through Magnuson Park with my little dog, Abby.  On Sunday, I counted 22 bunnies.   My dog is very excited to see the rabbits... but don't worry she is on a leash and can't give chase.

Rabbits are outside my house every morning, lazily munching on my lawn.  That's fine....less mowing for me.

But now they have gone too far....last week I found a fat bunny munching the lettuce in my vegetable garden.    I purchased plastic fencing to stop them to no avail....yesterday one snuck in through a small gap.   My lettuce was half eaten!

My vegetable garden after being visited by a hungry rabbit

I do worry that I am turning into a modern version of Elmer Fudd, hunting the hated Wabbit!  And if you remember from the cartoon, the Wabbit always won.

Early Sunday morning, driving out of my neighborhood, a rabbit dashed out in front of my car.  I was sure that I hit it, but miraculously it escaped.  I was shaken.

Some neighborhoods in Seattle have had rabbit issues before, such as the infestation around Greenlake circa 2005.   But one way or the other, the rabbit population waned.

And who could forget the Redmond/Microsoft bunny crisis of 1998, when nearly 1000 bunnies spread over the well-cared lawns of Microsoft and other Overlake businesses.   There was even a Redmond Rabbit Coalition.

But this time, here in Seattle, something is different.  Seattle's rabbit population is clearly growing exponentially to levels not seen before.  There are clearly thousands of bunnies.

But why?   Did a lot of people dump their pet rabbits in local parks?    The effects of global warming?  (I am waiting for someone on the Seattle City Council to suggest this, with a 10 million dollar program to deal with the issue)

 Has the local coyote population gotten lazy or decided they prefer fat pet cats who don't offer as much of a chase?  And what about our resident eagle population?  Not on the job.

Seattle coyotes appear to be lazy or now prefer cats

Well, I won't speculate any more....but those wabbits going into my vegetable garden better watch out!

from Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog https://ift.tt/2N7OdNS

A New Environmental Challenge for Seattle: RABBITS!

There is much talk in the Seattle media of invading hordes changing the nature of Seattle, with Amazon employees and homeless folks being the most frequently mentioned.

But the Seattle media has chosen to ignore an invasion that has become increasingly serious during the past year:

The appearance of huge numbers of bunnies around the city.

Cute, fluffy creatures that are eating their way through Seattle's vegetable gardens and lawns.

I bike to work each day along the Burke-Gilman trail.  Before this year I never saw bunnies...now I see at least a half dozen each morning.

Bunny in Seattle's Magnuson Park

One of my favorite activities is to run or walk through Magnuson Park with my little dog, Abby.  On Sunday, I counted 22 bunnies.   My dog is very excited to see the rabbits... but don't worry she is on a leash and can't give chase.

Rabbits are outside my house every morning, lazily munching on my lawn.  That's fine....less mowing for me.

But now they have gone too far....last week I found a fat bunny munching the lettuce in my vegetable garden.    I purchased plastic fencing to stop them to no avail....yesterday one snuck in through a small gap.   My lettuce was half eaten!

My vegetable garden after being visited by a hungry rabbit

I do worry that I am turning into a modern version of Elmer Fudd, hunting the hated Wabbit!  And if you remember from the cartoon, the Wabbit always won.

Early Sunday morning, driving out of my neighborhood, a rabbit dashed out in front of my car.  I was sure that I hit it, but miraculously it escaped.  I was shaken.

Some neighborhoods in Seattle have had rabbit issues before, such as the infestation around Greenlake circa 2005.   But one way or the other, the rabbit population waned.

And who could forget the Redmond/Microsoft bunny crisis of 1998, when nearly 1000 bunnies spread over the well-cared lawns of Microsoft and other Overlake businesses.   There was even a Redmond Rabbit Coalition.

But this time, here in Seattle, something is different.  Seattle's rabbit population is clearly growing exponentially to levels not seen before.  There are clearly thousands of bunnies.

But why?   Did a lot of people dump their pet rabbits in local parks?    The effects of global warming?  (I am waiting for someone on the Seattle City Council to suggest this, with a 10 million dollar program to deal with the issue)

 Has the local coyote population gotten lazy or decided they prefer fat pet cats who don't offer as much of a chase?  And what about our resident eagle population?  Not on the job.

Seattle coyotes appear to be lazy or now prefer cats

Well, I won't speculate any more....but those wabbits going into my vegetable garden better watch out!

from Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog https://ift.tt/2N7OdNS

Thunderstorms Bring Strong Winds, Road Closures, and Power Outages over Northeast Washington

The line of strong thunderstorms that hit western Washington around midnight Sunday/Monday continued into eastern Washington, where some of the convection revved up into intense storms.    Over limited areas the winds were extraordinary, gusting to well over 60 mph and I suspect more in some locations.

An idea of the intensity of some of these storms was made clear over Ferry County of northeast Washington, where extensive power outages and downed trees were noted.   State Route 20 was closed by a large number of fallen trees at a location about 4 miles west of the town of Republic (see pictures and location map below).

Picture Courtesy of Andy of TroutStreaming

The strong winds were associated with a line of strong thunderstorms.  Let me illustrate by showing a series of composite radar images from the Spokane radar from 1102 UTC Sunday (4:02 AM PDT) to 1231 UTC (5:31 AM).  The maximum reflectivity (how much of the radar signal is returned to the radar) was very, very large (values reaching the mid-60s), which is associated with hail and VERY heavy precipitation.

The radar can tell us about the top of the radar echo (see below), which reached around
40,000 feet---which is very high for our area (folks in Oklahoma would yawn at it).

So what kind of wind reports did we get?   The problem with NE Washington is that observation density is sparse....but we get some suggestive reports.  For example, the USDA RAWS site at Oroville, WA has a very sudden gust to 61 mph at the time of the convection line passage.

The RAWS site at Aeneas, WA, just a few miles from the SR-20 blowdown had a gust to 64 mph.

A weatherunderground station in Republic got a piece of the action (see plot below), with a surge of wind to 26 mph, accompanied by a sudden jump of pressure and a burst of rain.

 The really strong winds early Monday morning were localized over the Republic area of NE Washington.   The max wind gusts overnight  in the regional plot showed lots of blustery conditions (winds gusting to 20-35 mph), put little evidence of a major area of greater 50 mph.

So what happened around Republic?   There is no reason to suspect a tornado, particularly since the strong winds appeared to occur over a region of roughly 10 miles in size. 

Strong thunderstorms can produce strong "straight line" winds even without a tornado vortex.  For example, powerful thunderstorms can have strong gust fronts of descending outflow air, with wind speeds reaching 40-80 mph.   Dry air under the thunderstorm air can aid in producing a strong

 gust front, and the vertical radiosonde sounding at Spokane Airport for 5 AM, did show a low-level dry layer (see below, temperatures in red and dew point in blue, the more they are separated, the drier the air).  Dry air encourages evaporation and cooling, with cooler/denser air sinking more rapidly before it spreads out along the ground.  Strong downdrafts can also mix higher momentum air from aloft down to the surface.

An unusual event with strong thunderstorms on both sides of the Cascades.




from Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog https://ift.tt/2Ke6Ge0

Thunderstorms Bring Strong Winds, Road Closures, and Power Outages over Northeast Washington

The line of strong thunderstorms that hit western Washington around midnight Sunday/Monday continued into eastern Washington, where some of the convection revved up into intense storms.    Over limited areas the winds were extraordinary, gusting to well over 60 mph and I suspect more in some locations.

An idea of the intensity of some of these storms was made clear over Ferry County of northeast Washington, where extensive power outages and downed trees were noted.   State Route 20 was closed by a large number of fallen trees at a location about 4 miles west of the town of Republic (see pictures and location map below).

Picture Courtesy of Andy of TroutStreaming

The strong winds were associated with a line of strong thunderstorms.  Let me illustrate by showing a series of composite radar images from the Spokane radar from 1102 UTC Sunday (4:02 AM PDT) to 1231 UTC (5:31 AM).  The maximum reflectivity (how much of the radar signal is returned to the radar) was very, very large (values reaching the mid-60s), which is associated with hail and VERY heavy precipitation.

The radar can tell us about the top of the radar echo (see below), which reached around
40,000 feet---which is very high for our area (folks in Oklahoma would yawn at it).

So what kind of wind reports did we get?   The problem with NE Washington is that observation density is sparse....but we get some suggestive reports.  For example, the USDA RAWS site at Oroville, WA has a very sudden gust to 61 mph at the time of the convection line passage.

The RAWS site at Aeneas, WA, just a few miles from the SR-20 blowdown had a gust to 64 mph.

A weatherunderground station in Republic got a piece of the action (see plot below), with a surge of wind to 26 mph, accompanied by a sudden jump of pressure and a burst of rain.

 The really strong winds early Monday morning were localized over the Republic area of NE Washington.   The max wind gusts overnight  in the regional plot showed lots of blustery conditions (winds gusting to 20-35 mph), put little evidence of a major area of greater 50 mph.

So what happened around Republic?   There is no reason to suspect a tornado, particularly since the strong winds appeared to occur over a region of roughly 10 miles in size. 

Strong thunderstorms can produce strong "straight line" winds even without a tornado vortex.  For example, powerful thunderstorms can have strong gust fronts of descending outflow air, with wind speeds reaching 40-80 mph.   Dry air under the thunderstorm air can aid in producing a strong

 gust front, and the vertical radiosonde sounding at Spokane Airport for 5 AM, did show a low-level dry layer (see below, temperatures in red and dew point in blue, the more they are separated, the drier the air).  Dry air encourages evaporation and cooling, with cooler/denser air sinking more rapidly before it spreads out along the ground.  Strong downdrafts can also mix higher momentum air from aloft down to the surface.

An unusual event with strong thunderstorms on both sides of the Cascades.




from Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog https://ift.tt/2Ke6Ge0

Unusually Strong Cold Front (with Lightning) Hits the Northwest

Summer cold fronts are generally unimpressive around here, often bringing cooler marine air accompanied by a transition to increased onshore flow.   But last night we had a stronger than normal summer cold front that brought lightning and burst of heavy rain.

The radar image around 6 PM Sunday was impressive, with the yellow colors indicating heavy precipitation.

By midnight, the heavy precipitation reached Puget Sound and as many folks can attest, there was some serious lightning with the frontal band.

In fact, the regional lightning detection network observed hundreds of lightning strikes during this frontal passage (the figure below shows the strikes for the 24-h period ending 1 AM Monday).

If you want to get a real feel for the lightning, here is a video looking north from the northern Kitsap Peninsula from Greg Johnsons Skunk Bay Weather facility.  Pretty exciting at Skunk Bay.  No missile shots or UFOs!


The infrared satellite image at 8 PM Sunday was impressive for June, with a strong frontal band making landfall on the WA coast.

The precipitation totals from this band were modest...precipitation was heavy but it moved through quickly.  Particularly, heavy precipitation fell over the north Cascades (half inch), but lots of locations observed a tenth or two of rain.

On top of the atmospheric science building at the UW, the frontal passage was very obvious around
07-08 Z (GMT)--around midnight to 1 AM Monday.  About .15 inch of rain (bottom panel), an increase of wind (top panel), and an interesting, sudden jump down of pressure (fourth panel).

So why did we have so much action last night?   The front was fairly strong but a key was elevated instability (known as elevated CAPE, Convective Available Potential Energy, in the weather business).  The upward motion with the front released the instability, resulting in numerous thunderstorms.

This week should be cool with plenty of low clouds in the morning and early afternoons.  Typical weather for this time of the year.  But don't worry....the latest model runs suggest a big improvement by early July.

from Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog https://ift.tt/2yFtRbw

Unusually Strong Cold Front (with Lightning) Hits the Northwest

Summer cold fronts are generally unimpressive around here, often bringing cooler marine air accompanied by a transition to increased onshore flow.   But last night we had a stronger than normal summer cold front that brought lightning and burst of heavy rain.

The radar image around 6 PM Sunday was impressive, with the yellow colors indicating heavy precipitation.

By midnight, the heavy precipitation reached Puget Sound and as many folks can attest, there was some serious lightning with the frontal band.

In fact, the regional lightning detection network observed hundreds of lightning strikes during this frontal passage (the figure below shows the strikes for the 24-h period ending 1 AM Monday).

If you want to get a real feel for the lightning, here is a video looking north from the northern Kitsap Peninsula from Greg Johnsons Skunk Bay Weather facility.  Pretty exciting at Skunk Bay.  No missile shots or UFOs!


The infrared satellite image at 8 PM Sunday was impressive for June, with a strong frontal band making landfall on the WA coast.

The precipitation totals from this band were modest...precipitation was heavy but it moved through quickly.  Particularly, heavy precipitation fell over the north Cascades (half inch), but lots of locations observed a tenth or two of rain.

On top of the atmospheric science building at the UW, the frontal passage was very obvious around
07-08 Z (GMT)--around midnight to 1 AM Monday.  About .15 inch of rain (bottom panel), an increase of wind (top panel), and an interesting, sudden jump down of pressure (fourth panel).

So why did we have so much action last night?   The front was fairly strong but a key was elevated instability (known as elevated CAPE, Convective Available Potential Energy, in the weather business).  The upward motion with the front released the instability, resulting in numerous thunderstorms.

This week should be cool with plenty of low clouds in the morning and early afternoons.  Typical weather for this time of the year.  But don't worry....the latest model runs suggest a big improvement by early July.

from Cliff Mass Weather and Climate Blog https://ift.tt/2yFtRbw