Mark Ingalls

One of the most frequent questions that I get when posting about weather events over on Tri-Cities Weather is some form of “why does the alert stop at ?” The short answer is that it has to do with how the National […]

An active weather pattern is expected to continue into the weekend. The Inland Northwest isn’t likely to see much in the way of precipitation as a ridge of high pressure off the Pacific Northwest puses weather […]

The drought gripping the Western United States continues to worsen in Eastern Washington. In this week’s update of the U.S. Drought Monitor, exceptional drought (level 4/4) was noted as stretching from the […]

Final update: July 2, 2021 at 06:10 PDT. Details below.

As we head into July, the heat wave that gripped the region over the past week or so is waning. It leaves behind numerous new temperature records […]

An unusually strong area of high pressure is forecast to build over the Pacific Northwest during the next several days. The drought in place across much of the West (including the Columbia Basin) also adds a […]

A magnitude 3.9 earthquake was observed near Mount Hood late in the day on June 5. Minor shaking was reported by people living around the volcano, but earthquakes this small do not typically produce damage. It has […]

The National Drought Mitigation Center updates their Drought Monitor every Thursday, outlining the geographic details of drought conditions throughout North America. In today’s update, the extreme drought category […]

The Tri-Cities Airport observed its first 100 degree reading Wednesday afternoon thanks to this early June heatwave, leading to a new record. The preliminary high temperature was 104°, beating the old record of […]

This Spring will go down as the third driest on record for the Tri-Cities as dry conditions continue to plague much of the American West. A total of 0.31 inches of rain was observed during the months of March, […]

Early Monday morning, the National Weather Service issued a heat advisory for the Columbia Basin. That advisory will still start at 11:00 Tuesday but now extends to 20:00 Thursday. It includes the Tri-Cities, […]

When discussing weather, there is a lot of comparison to “average” or “normal” conditions in a given place. These represent an expected temperature, precipitation, or other value averaged over a 30-year period for […]

The lowlands of the Inland Northwest should lose much of their snow this week as high temperatures slowly rise into the 40s. While some flooding may occur in small streams and low lying areas, larger rivers like […]

The first atmospheric river event of the season is taking aim for the Pacific Northwest, bringing widespread rain to the region beginning on the coast Tuesday night and spreading inland to moisten the ground in […]

The heat wave that is gripping the Columbia Basin will draw to a close over the next day or so. The upper-level ridge of high pressure influencing the pattern over the Inland Northwest will start moving to the […]

A ridge of high pressure will build over the next couple days, bringing a steady climb to high temperatures across the Columbia Basin for the remainder of the week. Current indications are that highs will reach […]

High pressure will remain in place over the region through Friday. This coupled with southerly flow thanks to a deepening low in the Pacific will amplify already hot temperatures in the Inland Northwest, prompting […]