Charlie Phillips

Atmospheric rivers, like the one over Western WA right now, are strong, narrow, and often slow-moving streams of mild, moist air stretching from the subtropics to the midlatitudes.

When this air slams into […]

On Friday, Seattle was cut off from the north, the south, and the east due to flooding from the Chehalis River inundating I-5, extreme amounts of snow in the Washington passes, and all roads out of Vancouver BC […]

Running out the door to head to my energy trading shift, but thought I’d post a quick update regarding the historic arctic blast and our accompanying lowland snow chances before then. Hope to have more tomorrow […]

The Pacific Northwest has seen tons of mountain snow over the past 10 days. Since December 9, Snoqualmie Pass has seen approximately 8 feet of snow, and all of the major Cascade ski resorts, from Mt. Baker in the […]

Last night, a rare, catastrophic tornado outbreak occurred over portions of the Southern and Midwestern US. As of Saturday afternoon, 34 people were confirmed dead, with an estimated 75-100 deaths across Missouri, […]

When I was younger, my mom and I would always explore Seattle and look for the biggest puddles to (safely!) drive through after heavy rain events. We knew all the key spots – Lake Washington Boulevard through the […]

I’m a firm believer that it’s important to pick up a winter sport if you live in the Pacific Northwest. It could be snowshoeing. Or perhaps heli-skiing is your cup of tea. It doesn’t matter the sport – all that […]

The “bomb cyclone” is here, and wow, does it look impressive on satellite! This looks like something you’d see in the Gulf of Alaska, not the Pacific NW.

Best satellite pics of the GOES-17 era IMO. 943mb now! # […]

Fall is the most rapidly-changing season here in the Pacific Northwest. September generally starts off warm and sunny, with some of our highest fire danger of the entire year. But by late September/early October, […]

We really lucked out with our fire season west of the Cascades this year. After one of the driest springs and hottest/driest summers on record, vegetation was incredibly dry and the environment incredibly […]

The 2021-2022 storm season is knocking at our door. Take a look at the precipitable water imagery over the East Pacific and note the dramatic stream of subtropical moisture barreling towards the Pacific Northwest. […]

A dangerous heat wave will impact the Pacific Northwest this week. It won’t be anywhere near as strong as the “Heat Dome” of June 26-28, but it will still bring record highs to large portions of the Pacific NW […]

As of 8/2, Portland and Seattle have seen 48 and 49 consecutive days without measurable precipitation, respectively. Such dry spells aren’t unheard of for the summer – Portland’s record for consecutive dry days is […]