Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Warmest day of the year, so far...

We had a high temperature of 60.6ºF today, with sunny skies and a strong breeze.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Weather station problem

My weather station's temperature, humidity, anemometer and direction sensor array is having radio interference problems lately.  Normally when it starts to cut out like it has I've replaced the batteries, however it is still having trouble.  It's possible I got a bad batch of batteries.

     On Sunday afternoon I will have the station offline for about 1 hour for battery replacement and other misc maintenance, including cleaning and rebuilding the rain gauge.

Weather Statistics from March 5th - March 18th


Wind, Rain, and Thunderstorms, oh my!

Warmest and coldest days are based on average temperature of the entire day, starting at midnight. All other averages are based on the whole week.

-March 5th – 11th :
Warmest day: 46.5ºF (Wednesday the 9th)
Coldest day: 38.5ºF (Monday the 7th)
Rainiest day: 1.62 inches (Wednesday the 9th)

Average temperature: 42.5ºF
High temperature: 52.7ºF (Wednesday the 9th)
Low temperature: 32.5ºF (Monday the 7th)

Total Rainfall: 2.46 inches

High humidity: 100%
Low humidity: 39% (Friday the 11th)
Average humidity: 88%

High pressure: 29.619 inches (Saturday the 5th)
Low pressure: 29.058 inches (Thursday the 10th)
Average pressure: 29.414 inches

-March 12th – 18th:
Warmest day: 45.3ºF (Tuesday the 15th)
Coldest day: 42.1ºF (Friday the 18th)
Rainiest day: 2.28 inches (Monday the 14th)

Average temperature: 43.6ºF
High temperature: 52.5ºF (Monday the 14th)
Low temperature: 36.7ºF (Thursday the 17th)

Total Rainfall: 5.84 inches!

High humidity: 100%
Low humidity: 36% (Thursday the 17th)
Average humidity: 91%

High pressure: 29.530 inches (Tied Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 14th, 16th and 17th)
Low pressure: 29.028 inches (Sunday the 13th)
Average pressure: 29.314 inches

Weather highlights:
-Wednesday March 9th we had a period of heavy rainfall dump almost a half of inch of rain in 30 minutes!  We also had some breezy wind conditions, gusting to about 34mph at the Home Education Exchange center in Shoreline, also known as the old North City Elementary school.
-Thursday March 10th we had a high wind advisory issued, later upgraded to a high wind warning for the area, with expected possible gusts to 60mph, however the highest gust I saw in the area was once again at the Home Education Exchange center in Shoreline at 42mph.
-Tuesday and Wednesday (March 15th and 16th respectively) we had a couple of thunderstorms roll through the area.
-We have received more rain this month, as of Tuesday the 15th, than we normally average for the entire month of March.  So far this month we have received 9.67 inches of rain!  This is more rain than we got in January and February combined, and we still have another 2 weeks to go!
-Temperatures finally warming up a little.  We are still averaging in the lower to middle 40’s for the most part, which is more closer to normal for December and January, however we’re no longer in the 30’s mostly for average temperatures so far this month.  I’ll have more on this later when I write my seasonal report.

Weather for the coming week:
-I’m expecting more of the same, rain storms will start rolling through again at about the middle of the week, maybe sooner.  I don’t think we will get as much rain, as we have last week, but it’s not going to be dry.  Keep an eye on hill sides as the soil is still very saturated with water.

Tonight, there will be what is called a “Super Moon.”  The moon will be a full moon, and at its closest to earth that it has been since March of 1993, it will be about 14% bigger and about 30% brighter than normal.  Our cloud cover tonight may actually be forgiving enough to witness this event.  The moonrise and moonset should be spectacular if not blocked by cloud cover.  The moon will rise at 6:39 PM tonight, and it will set tomorrow morning at 6:44 AM.  The distance the Moon from the Earth is 356,642 Kilometers, or 221,607 Miles.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Windstorm today

We had a windstorm blow through today, gusting to 42mph in Shoreline.  It prompted the national weather service in Seattle to issue a Wind Advisory, which was later upgraded to a High Wind Warning.  The storm peaked at about 2:30pm and slowly died down to about 5pm, then rapidly died all the way to almost calm conditions after 5pm.   Power flickered once in a while in the North Ridge and Echo Lake neighborhoods, but as far as I know, City Light did not report any outages in Shoreline.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Excessive rainfall

At about Noon today we received 0.4 inches of rain in less than 30 minutes.

Winds gusted to 34mph today as well, wind data collected from the Home Education Exchange center, (Old North City Elementary.)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Weekly Weather Feb 26th - Mar. 4th


Warmest and coldest days are based on average temperature of the entire day, starting at midnight.  All other averages are based on the whole week.

Warmest day: 41.8ºF (Wednesday)
Coldest day: 26.3ºF (Saturday)
Rainiest day: 0.57 inches (Sunday) – (Some may have been snow/ice melt)

For the week:
Average temperature: 36.4ºF
High temperature: 47.5ºF (Tied between Wednesday and Friday)
Low temperature: 18.5ºF (Saturday morning)

Total rainfall: 2.27 inches

High humidity: 100% (Every day)
Low humidity: 38% (Friday)
Average humidity: 93%

High pressure: 29.707 inches (Tied between Thursday and Friday)
Low pressure: 28.821 inches (Wednesday, Remember that wind storm?)
Average pressure: 29.271 inches

Weather highlights for the week:
-Saturday was below freezing with ice in places until just before midnight when the temperature rose to 32.2ºF.
-Lots of precipitation this week.
-A windstorm hit the region Wednesday however areas hardest hit was the coast and northwest interior of the State.  However worthy of noting there was a power outage effecting 3,100 Shoreline customers, caused by a fallen tree on Dayton Ave N, near Dayton Pl, as previously reported.  Closing Shorewood High School and Einstein Middle school early.  Winds in the Shorelineand Lake Forest Park area peaked at about 35-37mph, some places including Central Market not even reaching peak gusts above 30mph.  This did not meet the criteria for a Wind warning or advisory, if it wasn’t for the power outage this would have just been considered a blustery day.  Sustained winds averaged about 15-25mph.

Weather for the coming week:
-It looks like Sunday (Today) is our only break.  We will continue the train of Pacific storms throughout the rest of the week, with rain in the lowlands, and snow in the mountains.  Temperatures may start to top out near 50 degrees by the end of the week, so it’s going to seem very warm compared to the last two months.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Wednesday March 2nd Windstorm

A brief windstorm Wednesday morning from about 9am - 2pm hit the Puget Sound region.   Winds in Shoreline gusted to about 35-37mph according to the school net stations within the city.  The old North City Elementary site recorded a gust of 37mph.  Central Market's weather station didn't see anything above 30mph.

    A power outage effecting 3,100 people prompted Shorewood High and Einstein Middle School to release early.  Power outage occurred at 9:40am and was restored at about 4:30pm.


My weather station was not effected by that power outage.  It is also operated on a backup battery and can last at least an hour without power.