Charlie Phillips

Dry Halloweens are not a slam dunk for the Pacific Northwest. During my trick-or-treating career from 1996-2007 (yes, I trick-or-treated my freshman year of high school… social graces have never been a strong […]

The next two weeks look unseasonably calm. We’ll see a moderate system swing through on Friday, but other than that, our weather looks warmer and drier-than-average for the next 10 days as a strong, broad ridge of […]

The Pacific Northwest isn’t known for its rapidly changing seasons. We don’t exactly plunge into winter like the Northern Plains, and our slow trudge towards summer out of the depths of January is even slower. […]

In my AP European History class back in high school, I remember being astounded by some of the suffixes that the kings and queens had. With a name like Louis XVI, is it any surprise that the French rose up and […]

This past Sunday, I went trout fishing on the Yakima River with my dad and brother. The trout were there, but they were sluggish and not particularly enthusiastic about our flies. We didn’t had any hits on dry […]

More satellite eye-candy today! Take a look below (note – if you are receiving this post via email, you may have to go to the actual post to see the loop).

One thing that immediately stands out is the […]

Today’s weather pattern is a real treat to look at on satellite. We have marginally unstable air moving inland, and this air is just unstable enough to give crustal clear, bluebird skies over the ocean but h […]

In my last blog post on 8/30, I warned of a “late-season heatwave with offshore flow” that would “dramatically increase fire danger for the Pacific Northwest.” But when I wrote that, never in my wildest dreams did […]

A lot has happened in the weather department since I wrote my last blog two weeks ago. Washington, Oregon, and California all declared a State of Emergency due to widespread wildfires, and the entire Western US […]

Hi all, I’m back after a hiatus! We really haven’t had much to talk about and I’ve been busy spending lots of time with my family, so blogging and weather updates have fallen by the wayside. However, we’re […]

Two Sundays ago, I proudly proclaimed that Juneuary would end on the 17th. But taking a look at the webcam from Timberline Lodge this morning, that appears to have been a premature call! Just another example of […]

What a beautiful sunset tonight! I’m currently on Whidbey Island just north of Seattle, but Portland saw a spectacular sunset as well.

When the sun is low on the horizon like it is at […]

We saw a little-known, but fascinating meteorological feature off the coast of Vancouver Island today… a little swirl in the clouds created due to differences in the strength of northwesterly winds along the […]

I ran through some quick climate stats for Portland Int’l Airport, and since Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend (5/23), only 2 of 10 weekends (this includes Memorial Day) have had temperatures at or above-average, […]

The Portland NWS issued a “Special Weather Statement” at 4pm warning of the potential for “cold core funnel clouds” this afternoon. But what is a “cold core funnel cloud,” you might ask??
Special Weather […]

The weather sounds like the most inconsequential thing to talk about during these times, but if it weren’t for – you know – the global pandemic and revolution stuff – it would absolutely make front-line news. A […]