Category: Elsewhere in Weather News

Elsewhere in Weather News: September 6th, 2014

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East Pacific Continues to be Active

This past Tuesday the 10th hurricane in the Eastern Pacific formed and slowly strengthened into a category two hurricane and remains at this status as of Friday night. The hurricane, Norbert, is not expected to make any landfalls, however it is scraping by the Baja Peninsula region bringing adverse weather conditions to the region. Tropical destinations along the coast such as Cabo San Lucas saw tropical storm warnings as well as hurricane warnings. Norbert’s tropical storm force winds expanded a good distance from its centre which prompted these warnings. In fact, Cabo San Lucas had sustained winds of 98km/h overnight Thursday and combined with strong outer rain bands, this made for nasty conditions.

IR image of Norbert on Friday night. (Source: CIMSS)
IR image of Norbert on Friday night. (Source: CIMSS)

Norbert is expected to slowly continue northwest to its death and stay offshore. One potential benefit is that the remnants of Norbert could help a bit with the drought in California. The tropical plume of moisture should hold together and has the potential to move into southern California next week, making a small dent in the significant drought that is occurring:

The entire state of California is currently in one of the worst droughts on record. Almost 60% of the state is considered to be in exceptional drought.
The entire state of California is currently in one of the worst droughts on record. Almost 60% of the state is considered to be in “exceptional drought.”

The Eastern Pacific hurricane season lasts from mid-May to the end of November and on average features 8 hurricanes. In contrast to the Eastern Pacific hurricane season, the Atlantic hurricane season has been off to another slow start with only 3 hurricanes this year with no real prospects of possible storms in the near future according to the models, even as we approach the peak of the season. The Atlantic sees on average six hurricanes every year.

Elsewhere in Weather News: August 30th, 2014

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Montana Sees Unusual August Flooding

The same strong low pressure system that brought 20–40mm to the Red River Valley last weekend brought significant rainfall to parts of central and eastern Montana. These extreme rainfall events in August are uncommon for Montana as strong systems usually stay well north with the polar jet stream and wildfires are typically the concern around this time of the year.

Storm total rainfall for parts of central and eastern Montana (in inches). (Source: NWS Glasgow)
Storm total rainfall for parts of central and eastern Montana (in inches). (Source: NWS Glasgow)

The deep low pressure system brought heavy rain (with a few breaks) to the region between August 21st and the 24th. Combined with abnormally high Precipitable Water values (PWAT) in the region, this made for high rainfall totals throughout the region. Storm total reports between 175mm and 200mm were not uncommon. Glasgow, MT saw around 145mm fall through the event (Aug. 21–24) which is four and a half times their monthly average rainfall for the whole month of August. In comparison to last year, they had less than a quarter of their monthly average rainfall by this time.

Milk River near Glasgow reached major flood stage Monday and Tuesday. (Source: NWS Glasgow)
Milk River near Glasgow reached major flood stage Monday and Tuesday. (Source: NWS Glasgow)

Many rivers in the regions quickly swelled up and spilled their banks including the Milk River which entered major flood stage near Glasgow on Monday. Mudslides also became a concern in the more mountainous regions. It appears that most of the damage due to the flooding occurred to roads and culverts, however some homes were damaged as well. Thankfully, there have been no reports of injuries. Crews are slowly working to rebuild the washed out roads.

More rain is impacting the region today, but nothing close to the magnitude of what was seen last weekend.

Elsewhere in Weather News: August 23rd, 2014

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More Wildfires out West

Wildfires continue to be the story out west as large areas of not only western Canada, but also the western United States are experiencing tinder dry conditions. As explained in last week’s EIWN, these conditions are due to the persistent ridging that took place in most of July and early August over the region. The ridge brought limited precipitation and warm, dry air to the western half of North America. The Drought Index reveals this well, showing a large chunk of the western US under severe to exceptional drought.

The Drought Index for this week continues to show significant drought in the west. (Source: USDM)
The Drought Index for this week continues to show significant drought in the west. (Source: USDM)

California which has seen no reprieve from the drought and saw another large wildfire flare up this week near Yosemite National Park. The fire, which started on August 18 just to the north of Oakhurst, quickly grew into a large wildfire that was out of control. Numerous air tankers, as well as 1,300 firefighters on the ground, are actively fighting the blaze. Yesterday the crews were able to gain more control of the fire, which was 95% contained as of Friday night. The wildfire is expected to be under full control by the end of this weekend. Some 500 structures in the path of the wildfire were at risk of getting torched on Tuesday and about 1,000 people had to evacuate from Oakhurst. As of Friday most homes had been saved though, with only 47 structures destroyed by the fire. The wildfire burnt an area totaling 612 acres, a small fire compared to the China Nose Fire discussed in last week’s EIWN which reached 9,100 acres in size this past week.

Map of current wildfires that are burning throughout California, Yosemite fire identified by the arrow. (Source: CAL Fire)
Map of current wildfires that are burning throughout California, Yosemite fire identified by the arrow. (Source: CAL Fire)

The next chance for rain in drought-stricken parts of California looks to be Tuesday as a trough digs into California and brings with it a chance of showers, however, there is signficant uncertainty regarding the strength of the trough.

Elsewhere in Weather News: August 16th, 2014

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BC Wildfire Threatens Homes

Numerous large wildfires have been burning throughout western Canada this month due to warm, dry weather in the west. Northern British Columbia and the Northwest Territories have been under the gun for most of July and August as ridging in the west has been persistent. The ridge resulted in warm and dry conditions with weak thunderstorms during the day that have been sparking the fires – not a good combination for fire prevention. As a result, a large portion of central and northern BC is now rated for extreme fire danger. A few significant fires are currently burning in northern BC including the Chelaslie Arm Wildfire and China Nose Wildfire.

BC fire danger rating as of Friday. (Source: BC Wildfire Management)
BC fire danger rating as of Friday. (Source: BC Wildfire Management)

The China Nose Wildfire which is burning about 300km to the west northwest of Prince George is, as of this writing, zero percent contained and is threatening some 700 homes near China Lake and Houston, BC. As of Friday, estimates size the fire to be around 4,000 hectares – this is up from 1,200 hectares on Wednesday. A second large fire, the Chelaslie Arm Wildfire, is burning west-southwest of Prince George and is much larger than the China Nose Wildfire with an estimated size of 104,000 hectares. Entiako Provincial Park is most at risk from this fire – the park has closed and is under evacuation alert.

Chelaslie Arm Wildfire, seen from air. (Source: BC Wildfire Management)
Chelaslie Arm Wildfire, seen from air. (Source: BC Wildfire Management)

Conditions are not superb for firefighting either fire this weekend either; westerly winds kicking in later this weekend will result in warm and dry conditions persisting. These fires can also result in poor air quality, not only for cities in the region but also cities downwind of the fires. Plumes of smoke from the fires in BC and the Northwest Territories can be seen traveling thousands of kilometres – as far as southern Ontario – when a northwest flow is in place.