We've inching toward the halfway mark here in December, and somehow nearing the end of 2023. Time for a quick update on what we're watching for the next days and final weeks of the year. The big weather story this week will be plentiful wet weather across the Southern Plains for the latter half of the week into next weekend. This will be a widespread precipitation event for Texas, with some of that anomalous moisture expected to push into southeast Colorado, and portions of New Mexico, Oklahom

There's a lot of snow in those Rocky Mountains, the Sierras, and the Cascades to help the water situation across the American West, and the snowpack is so much more impressive than we had expected. Let's break it down closer to the river-basin level across the Western U.S. For a video discussion, here , the written form follows. The measurements used here are based on SNOTEL (Snow Telemetry Network) [https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/wcc/home/aboutUs/monitoring

Considering the recent flow of moisture toward the western U.S. from the Pacific (atmospheric river events), let's check in on how the water situation looks presently, particularly the Colorado River system. Just after Christmas, a series of atmospheric rivers brought dangerous amounts of rain and snow to California during a 3-week period. So

One storm is not a drought buster, however, the current extended pattern in place over California could make a significant dent in the ongoing drought there – but at a cost. Precipitation totals along coastal California (northern California in particular) have been significant over the last 14 days, with heavy snow inundating the Sierra Nevada mountains – delivering feet upon feet of snow, and precipitation totals in excess of 10" over the two week period. Snowfall over the last seven days:

It's been a good month for snow across much of the west. In some places, a great month. Overall, the Western United States continues to play catch up on the snowpack front, with nearly all basins across the west playing catchup after a dry, dry start to the snow season. You may look at the above and see a still overwhelming bias to below average snowpack across most basins. If we compare this map to 10 days ago that we shared in our perspective piece on the slow start to the snow season [https

Looking at the precipitation over the past two weeks and past month, there is an uptick in the moisture that has fallen across the West, however, a lot of caution needs to be used when considering drought conditions the next couple of months.

Exceptional drought conditions take over parts of Colorado and Kansas this week as the total drought area continues to increase. The favored precipitation areas in the next two weeks, and for the month, will be the northern high plains. I discussed the July outlook in depth in a previous post linked here . Unlike in the last drought update, the evaporative s

As we've discussed for some time now, the western ridge will finally begin to break down this weekend and allow for a much stormier weather pattern to set up across the west. Take a look at the 500mb pattern across the United States today: Compared with early next week: Quite an impressive flip, and one we've been waiting for for some time. What this will equate to is a period of very wet weather across California and the Pacific Northwest. And, unlike some of the more active periods earl

There's some relief across northern California this weekend even as drought conditions continue to worsen over much of the state. The "Pineapple Express" is delivering a wallop of moisture not seen in months across northern and central California. At lower elevations this precipitation is taking the form of soaking rains, while at higher elevations in the Sierra's we're seeing the first real taste of winter for the year. Drought Buster? Is this a drought buster? Maybe not, but it sure won't h

I touched on it briefly in this week's State of the Atmosphere, but wanted to take a closer look today at the ever worsening drought conditions across California and portions of Oregon. San Francisco San Francisco recorded an all time record dry year in 2013. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), San Francisco recorded less than half the rainfall of Phoenix in 2013. In a given year the city usually receives about 10 to 35 inches of precipitation, in 2013 that number was just 3.39 inc

Some relief on the way for portions of state hit hard by drought Drought Monitor CaliforniaThis week the U.S. Drought Monitor release updated numbers for California, and they were not good. As of February 4, 2014, 67% of the state was classified as experiencing Extreme Drought, with 9.81% experiencing Exceptional Drought, the most extreme rating that the Monitor offers. Just two short months ago those numbers were dramatically different. On December 3, 2013 0% of the state was classified as und