Talkin Bout Seattle Weather

We feel llike there's been just about enough comment in town on snow, the chance of snow, the lack of snow, snow where you came from, snow removal, snow traffic, chains, tires, boards, forecasts, mobiles, makers, shovels, problems, etc. And we haven't seen any snow in Seattle today. Maybe some rain with tracer fire. Howerver, if you are all wrapped up in precipitation than you should take note of a few things:

Seattle weather forecasting isn't the greatest, you may have noticed. It's not rocket science, right? Why do they get it wrong so often? Well, it isn't rocket science, but it is atmospheric science and UW professor of atmospheric sciences says our weather information sucks because of a lack of radar on the coast. "We have the worst coastal radar coverage of any place in the continental United States," he says. He hasn't heard of the Double Doppler, obviously. The Bloomberg article we grabbed that from is all over the place, but also mentions that local guy Steve Pool has a book out, which led us to discover that he also has a website (of sorts) including a page on Steve's public speaking tips.

``It's a 200-page excuse,'' says Pool, 52. ``Between playing golf and doing the weather, I have no problem being humble.''

The book explains some of the peculiarities of Northwest weather, starting with the convergence zone, an area of competing air currents. When Pacific winds hit the Olympic Mountains west of Seattle, they split and bend, like water flowing around a rock in a stream. That results in rain showers of varying intensity along the zone, usually just north of Seattle. A few miles away there may be sun.

The vagaries of the zone are one reason Pool hedged his forecast for showers Nov. 26 with a term unique to the region: sunbreaks, meaning periods of sun on an otherwise gray day.