Charlie Phillips


  • By now, I’m sure you’ve all heard of the infamous “polar vortex.” While this term has been in the meteorological literature since 1853, it sprung into the vernacular during the 2013-2014 winter, which featured […]

  • Charlie Phillips wrote a new post on the site Charlie's Weather 6 years ago

    The strongest storm thus far of the 2018-2019 storm season brought a brief but intense blow to many areas last night, with many locations in the Willamette Valley and Puget Sound experiencing 50 mph gusts and a […]

    • Still many area customers without power this morning. Thanks for the summary (and the photo credits!).

  • After a crazy-active week last week, there thankfully appear to be no major storms on the horizon for at least the rest of 2018. I say “thankfully” because although I am a storm fan, I’m also a meteorologist for a […]

  • Hi all! Sorry for not writing anything anything this past week, I was vacationing with my folks in Costa Rica! My brother Henry has been teaching English abroad for the past year there, so we jumped at the chance […]

  • Hi all! I hope everybody had a great weekend and enjoyed a rainy Sunday across the region. As damp and dreary as today has been, several even stronger storms will move through the area this week and will give us […]

  • Finally!
    In case you haven’t noticed, the weather thus far this storm season has been pretty boring. We’ve yet to see any windstorms, rainstorms, or snowstorms of significance, either in the mountains or the […]

  • I know I’m pretty darn late to this blog – these wildfires have occurred two weeks ago. But I would be remiss if I did not at least write a little something about the devastating fires that have caused so much […]

  • Hi y’all! It’s been a while, and I apologize for the delay in posts. I had some technical difficulties installing an SSL and spent a lot of time trying to configure a CNAME (an alternate domain for the same […]

  • Thanks for reading my blog Mary! I hope you had a wonderful vacation. You can absolutely use a picture of the volcano for the quilt. The images are not mine – they are from the USGS, but they are in the public domain and are free to use. If you want to share, I’d love to see a picture of it when it is done!

  • So far this autumn, most of our precipitation has come in the form of scattered showers as opposed to stratiform rain. That isn’t to say that these showers haven’t been heavy at times… I was biking back home […]

    • Yea!! Looking forward to finally getting some decent moisture and turning off the irrigation system as the extended outlook is showing continuing ppt much of next week.

      Interesting that you got caught in a hail event and with thunder to boot! Glad you stayed safe.

  • Yes, you read that right. Unless something goes horribly awry (say, a massive brush fire right next to the weather station at Portland International Airport), next week will feature the hottest weather for […]

  • Thank you Holly for the compliments and the link. They will need all the donations they can get. Unfortunately, Moody’s updated their damage estimates from 38-50 billion dollars… we have to find ways to be better prepared and lessen the impact from these storms.

  • To be fair Karl, all snowstorms have always been hyped in the Pacific Northwest, at least in Western Washington. But I definitely think it’s become even more prevalent in the age of social media. News organizations want headlines that spread like wildfire on Facebook and Twitter. Remember this article from the Ides of October storm back in…[Read more]

  • Wow! That’s pretty crazy… and those weather records go back a long time. I wonder if we’ll break the record. The Climate Prediction Center keeps Baltimore wetter than normal through the new year.

    http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/long_range/seasonal.php?lead=1

  • In this blog, I’ll touch on what I’ve interpreted as widespread, sensationalized coverage of Hurricane/Tropical Storm/Tropical Depression/Post-Tropical Storm Florence. While Florence has absolutely been the […]

    • I’ve seen this trend develop over the years. Particularly with minor snow ‘storms’, such as the kind we often get in the Pacific Northwest. I clearly remember one year when we were expecting a brief wintry mix in Portland overnight, and the networks immediately started running “WINTER STORM COVERAGE” and “BREAKING WEATHER” all over the headlines.

    • Thank you Holly for the compliments and the link. They will need all the donations they can get. Unfortunately, Moody’s updated their damage estimates from 38-50 billion dollars… we have to find ways to be better prepared and lessen the impact from these storms.

    • It’s a shame when one can’t depend on the News media, including the Weather Channel, to give you straight talk about what’s happening. This has definitely become a trend in this country.

  • Thank you Holly! Fortunately/unfortunately, I’ll no longer be working Thanksgivings, so while I’m excited to be able to spend some time with my folks I’ll definitely miss having them with you guys. Tell Isaac to ping me when he’s in town, I’d love to come up and visit!!!

  • Hurricane Florence is currently just offshore the North Carolina coast, and North Carolina is absolutely getting hammered as she slowly trudges onshore. As you would expect, the coast has been the hardest hit thus […]

  • Thanks Kevin! Yeah, the models are really having trouble with the track of the storm, as slight differences in the strength of the high pressure systems over Bermuda and the SE US have huge impacts on what path the storm will take.

    Tropical Tidbits is an absolutely incredible site and Levi is a great guy as well, he was one of the people I…[Read more]

  • Hi all! First off, let me apologize profusely for not being more punctual with this blog. I’ve been very busy with work over the weekdays, and this past weekend, I was out tuna fishing some ~40 miles off the […]

    • Loved your post Charlie! I have been following Florence updates very frequently the past week. Looks like up here in central MD we will get the most significant effects early next week from heavy rain remnants. Path is really up in the air (literally) after it comes ashore on Friday. Love the tropicaltidbits website, I checked it out and registered it through word press. Keep on blogging whenever and wherever you can! Busy times!! Kevin

    • Thanks Kevin! Yeah, the models are really having trouble with the track of the storm, as slight differences in the strength of the high pressure systems over Bermuda and the SE US have huge impacts on what path the storm will take.

      Tropical Tidbits is an absolutely incredible site and Levi is a great guy as well, he was one of the people I first contacted when undertaking my weather model chart project and he helped me get started. My models are only a shadow of his of course… I believe he has the best weather model site in the world. All he needs is the ECMWF!!! 🙂

    • Thank you Holly! Fortunately/unfortunately, I’ll no longer be working Thanksgivings, so while I’m excited to be able to spend some time with my folks I’ll definitely miss having them with you guys. Tell Isaac to ping me when he’s in town, I’d love to come up and visit!!!

  • Fantastic graph Jeff, it really shows how much temperatures have picked up in the last two decades. I wonder how much is due to global warming, how much is due to land use changes, and how much is simply natural variability. Regardless, 31 is craziness! We almost hit 90 yesterday too!

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