Charlie Phillips


  • I’m a big George Carlin fan, and one of my favorite routines is his comparison of baseball vs football. The thesis of his routine is how baseball is lighthearted and fun, while football is war and nothing less. […]

  • It will!!! Next week looks b-e-a-utiful. 🙂

  • I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve absolutely loved our summertime weather. Granted, it’s been extremely boring and there hasn’t been much to write about, but I’ll take anything over the apocalyptic fires and […]

  • Very cool Jeff! Thanks for keeping tabs on this… I knew temps were above 60 degrees for a while but had no idea this was some sort of record. I’ll share this with the folks at PGE!

  • As I was writing my previous blog on the 7/12/2019 Three Lakes earthquake, I kept getting sidetracked and found myself writing about the mechanisms behind earthquakes in general (perhaps that’s the reason why this […]

  • At 2:51 AM on Friday, July 12, citizens across Western Washington and beyond were awoken by an earthquake centered approximately 1 mile northwest of Monroe. With a magnitude of only 4.6, this was only a moderate […]

  • Some of my fondest childhood memories are of fishing for sockeye salmon off the shores of Lake Washington. I’ve had the privilege of fishing in many locations throughout the Pacific Northwest, but there’s nothing […]

  • Howdy everybody! I’m back after a bit of a hiatus – with our boring weather of late and the first image ever taken of a black hole coming to light last month, I’ve been more focused on the cosmos than the clouds […]

  • With all of the heavy rain we saw over the weekend, many rivers throughout Western Oregon have reached flood stage and are continuing to rise. Here in Portland, I’ve never seen the Willamette as high, muddy, and […]

    • After such a dry March, in the first 7 days my April total has already surpassed last month’s! It’ll be interesting to see how much snow the Cascades can get during these next 14 days – the models are certainly piling it on. Many reservoirs are nearing capacity with this past week’s heavy rains, especially in the central and southern Willamette Valley. Lowering snow levels should mitigate further flooding that’s currently occurring. Time release is good!

      And, you know what Mayflowers bring? Pilgrims.

  • During our semi-annual switch on and off of daylight saving time (DST), there are always a flurry of articles that come out extolling the benefits of making DST permanent. Supporters point to fewer car accidents, […]

  • There’s a saying on the myriad of online Pacific Northwest weather Facebook groups and forums. When it looks like our snow chances are over for the winter, it’s time to ‘stick a Fork in it.’ Here are just a few […]

  • Thanks Laurene! Mark is great, he’s a super nice guy and he knows a ton about weather. And yes, razor clamming season is almost here! It’s been a long time since I’ve been… I usually go geoduck clamming in Puget Sound, but I’d like to make it this year if possible.

  • There is a chance of a dusting of snow across the Portland metro area tomorrow morning. Accumulations, if any, should remain under half an inch, and I doubt the morning commute will be affected, though you never […]

    • Thanks Laurene! Mark is great, he’s a super nice guy and he knows a ton about weather. And yes, razor clamming season is almost here! It’s been a long time since I’ve been… I usually go geoduck clamming in Puget Sound, but I’d like to make it this year if possible.

  • A catastrophic EF-3 tornado tore parts of Alabama and Georgia today, leaving at least 23 people dead and many others injured. This tornado was part of a larger early-season outbreak that brought at least a dozen […]

  • Well, it happened. A truly epic late-season snowstorm walloped the Southern Willamette Valley Sunday night and Monday, knocking out power to tens of thousands of people and bringing over a foot of snow to Eugene […]

  • After so many busted snow forecasts this month, I’ll admit that I’m a little gun-shy writing this post. But now that all global models show a snowstorm affecting at least some part of the Willamette Valley Sunday […]

    • As always, thanks for the great write-up Charlie! Snow forecasts for Portland always seem so complicated as many things have to come together for snow to occur. Will keep an eye for your updates.

  • Remember all that talk about “Snowmageddon 2019” for Portland, with multiple heavy snows for Puget Sound and the Willamette Valley this week? Well, I hate to break it to you folks, but snowmageddon ain’t happenin’ […]

    • Snowing lightly here in Madrona, Seattle, Charlie, but not sticking so much–at least not yet. As much as I would like another huge dump of snow, it’ll be good when life returns to normal too!

  • Parts of NE Portland and Clark County have seen a few inches of snowfall so far tonight, but most of the Portland metro area below 500-1000 feet has been stuck with plain ol’ boring rain. However, downtown […]

  • Snow is in the forecast once again, and this time, Portland should get more than an inch.

    But before I dive into the snow potential this weekend, let me first touch on the surprise snow that Portland saw […]

    • Thanks for the detailed write-up Charlie! it’s great to learn about the different conditions we need to get snow here in the Portland area. I measured 1.6″ from the last event (at 600′ elevation) but am looking forward to measuring more from these next systems. The winter that wasn’t is turning into the the winter that was just late.

  • WOW! What was expected to be nothing more than a few scattered snow showers for Western Washington ended up being a bona-fide blizzard for the Northern Interior and a major lowland snowstorm for most locations […]

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