OK friends -- it's time for everyone to take out their right hand extend it out and give yourself a nice pat on the back. Congratulations, you've made it to the weekend and for most of you reading this in the Northwest, YOU REALLY DESERVE IT!!
Not only has it been a wild week, but it's been a wild COUPLE of weeks out in the Northwest. Did you know that thanks to a number of storm systems continually barraging the Northeast that Portland, OR has received at least a TRACE of precipitation for 23 straight days and their neighbors to the North in Seattle have had some sort of water product falling from the sky for the last 16!? A break in the action is long overdue especially after seeing pictures and video from the horrible flooding throughout Washington State!
So as I said above good news is on the way just in time for the weekend! My good buddy Tom Moore in the meteorology department downstairs just gave this great analogy for what's about to happen. A ridge is going to build into the Northwest (after another storm brings rain to Washington state on Saturday). This ridge is going to force storm systems rolling out of the Pacific Ocean up in Alaska. Since I'm typing this it's difficult to describe a ridge on a map, but think of it as a hump in the road (only this time it's a pretty big hump ... a hill in fact). The storm systems will basically ride that road up over the Northwest into Alaska. This is where Tom's analogy comes in ... he referred to this ridge as a sort of teapot so good news for some may not be great news for others. That means as you tip the teapot up (so the tea comes out the spout) cold temperatures will flow out into the country as a strong high pressure system builds in all the way down into the southeast (this is on tap for midweek next week).
So long story short the good people of Seattle and Portland are finally going to get some much needed Vitamin D from the sun -- in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if people just stepped outside their homes and lifted their faces to the sky for hours on end. That would be a great Weather Warriors picture by the way if anyone happens to catch any of that. However, while it may seem like the sun hasn't been out for a while in the northwest in a truly amazing turn of events, Cleveland, OH has only seen ONE sunny day since December 1st! So if you have any friends or family out there, pick up the phone, give em a call and make sure they aren't suffering from a mild bout of depression (if something doesn't sound right ... you'll know why ... advice -- one way ticket to the Sunshine State!)
Finally if there's anyone reading this in Fairbanks, Alaska would you mind commenting here and just letting me know how you live there and keep your sanity 1) with the 6 months of darkness thing and 2) WITH THE COLD? I'll never forget going to Fairbanks in February last year to cover the Ice Carving Championship (some truly amazing artists by the way). It was abnormally warm, you know ... somewhere around 31 degrees. My camera guy and I are bundled up in 6 maybe 7 layers, still shivering and here come people going in and out of restaurants in (and I'm not making this up) shorts and t-shirts with smiles BEAMING! It would have been comical and I may have smiled if my teeth hadn't been chattering so loudly. Anyway, I want you to know that SINCE LAST Sunday January 4th) the low temperature in Fairbanks has been -45 or lower (and no that's not a typo). To add insult to injury, the last time their temperature was warmer than -30 was last FRIDAY (January 2nd)! I just have to say -- you are all some hardcore people out there and I have the greatest amount of respect for you. It's one of the only places in America where you can take a cup of hot coffee outside -- throw it into the air -- and it phase changes so fast that the coffee basically disappears (now that's PRETTY COOL)!
There's a lot of other cool weather stories going on out there, but hey, it's Friday and you don't want to be listening to me yack all day ... it's time for Happy Hour somewhere! So until next time thanks for spending a couple of minutes with me -- stay warm -- and have a great weekend!
(Special thanks to Jonathan Erdman for all the fun facts today)
No comments:
Post a Comment