Tagged: rain

Rain showers will be coming and going this weekend. That's the big picture, but Cliff Mass, professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington, says the weekend won’t be a total washout.

“Memorial Day weekend is generally not the best,” he says. “We have a really nice period sometime in the early to mid-May most years, and we’ve had it.”

Now, Mass says, we’re starting to see the infamous “June gloom syndrome,” which he says involves “a lot of low clouds and sprinkles.”

The next storm front is headed our way for Saturday morning, says KPLU weather expert Cliff Mass, a professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington. And Sunday afternoon could get a warmer, wetter blast.

But, what's really intriguing him is the Monday forecast.

"The computer models don't agree," says Mass. Some bring the storm system's center north of Puget Sound, other models send the storm south.

"This is fairly strong ... so it could bring winds, even winds here to Seattle," on Monday, he says.

Those late November storms are a tradition in the northwest. But after some Friday rain, the trend is drying out, says KPLU weather expert Cliff Mass, a professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Washington.

In this week's weather talk, Mass explains why late November gets more inches of rain than any other period of the year. Hint: It has to do with the jet-stream, heading at us from Asia. After November, that "atmospheric hose" is pointed farther south in Oregon and northernmost California.

We're entering the wettest two-week period of the year, says Cliff Mass, KPLU weather expert and professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington. And this year should not disappoint.

The rain we've been hearing about this weekend will really just be light showers, says Mass, unless you're on the coast or in northwest Washington, where you'll get blasted with high winds.

And there's not much we can do about it, says Cliff Mass, KPLU weather expert and professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the UW.

Mass says look at the radar and make some plans.

There's a reason ... It's been a cold June.

You can watch out not only for rain showers, but perhaps even some thunder showers on Friday, says Cliff Mass, the KPLU weather expert and professor of Atmospheric Sciences at UW.

If you're planning ahead, he says in this week's podcast, Friday afternoon will get the worst of it, with Saturday slightly less, and Sunday tapering off more and warming up a few degrees.

And, if you're wondering, When will the water at our beaches be warm enough to get in?... Mass has some bad news. The early part of summer is when winds conspire to create "upwelling" along much of the Pacific coast, and that makes the water get colder.