Meteorology

If you have a hunch that this has been a very dry spring, then we may have some data to back you up. According to Bob Barry, a technician for CAF, "we are having the driest March + April + May since 1930, and, possibly since 1893." The total precipitation for all of March through May was only 1.2 inches; a far bit less than our average 5.3 inches (Figure 1). Figure 1: March, ...

As more data begins to show up on the website (http://www.cafltar.org/data/) and with the reformatting of the Eddy Covariance Flux Tower Data dashboard, it behooves us to take a minute to explain the data being displayed and its potential usage from a researcher’s perspective. Today, the core meteorology data. The “research-grade” data and instruments will be presented in subse ...

Given the sudden onset of some rather chilly (and snowy) weather; I thought it would be worth taking a quick look at how early Pullman experiences freezing temperatures. There are two metrics I’ll be looking at: the first day after July 1 where we record a minimum daily temperature (TMIN) below freezing and the first day after July 1 we experience a maximum daily temperature be ...

So, there were some conversations about doing the same pleasant day calculation but to take into account just the period of day when people are generally active. In part, this came from the discussion of the diurnal temperature range and the minimum temperature as they relate to the criteria used and from my own curiosity.

Our data manager was reading the internet one day and found a little post about how many ‘pleasant weather days’ there are across the country. After we discussed it a bit, we kept returning to the question of what constitutes a ‘pleasant day’ and how the total number of days has changed over the years. After asking a few friends their opinions, I can safely report that everyone ...

Fourth of July is a big holiday in the US and generally, a big outdoor holiday with parades, barbeques, concerts, and, of course, fireworks! Similar to the Memorial Day post, I thought it would be a good idea to take a quick look at the climatology for the 4^th in Pullman. Data about general cloudiness is not easy to come by so there will not be any discussion about ‘cloudiness’ here. It is safe to assume that days with rain are also generally cloudy but data used here does not have any indications of general cloudiness. As such, the focus will be on precipitation and on temperature. I promise I do more than just look at Pullman’s temperature and climate data!

This really should be been written before this week but the author didn’t think to write this until now. Memorial Day and the end of May marks a turn in the weather as we make the turn toward the summer heat and into the dry season in the inland Pacific Northwest. Growing up, my parents would say that Memorial Day was always a rainy day. This got me thinking (always dangerous) ...

For those not in Pullman, early April was an eventful time for us, a lot of rain and even some flooding! For us weather nerds (i.e., the author), these types of events are fun and not fun at the same time. They are fun because they provide interesting data and neat pictures but not fun because of the damage they can cause. A more detailed write-up of the events that caused the ...