West Coast Storm Waves Harbinger Of Upcoming Stormy U.S. Including Here In New England.

Two men trapped on debris in the water after the 
end of the Santa Cruz, California wharf collapsed
under an onslaught of huge waves from offshore
Pacific Ocean storms. 

 Huge battering waves have been smashing into the California coast for days, and that state of affairs is likely to continue into the weekend. 

As it is, the part of the Santa Cruz Wharf fell into the Pacific Ocean Monday after waves tore at its supports. Three people were stranded on the floating debris. Two were rescued and the other managed to swim to shore. 

However, at Sunset State Beach along Monterey Bay, a man died after waves pinned him beneath debris. 

Residents along part of the shore south of Santa Cruz were also evacuated due to large, battering waves.   Many boats were sunk or otherwise damaged as huge swells crashed into Santa Cruz Harbor. 

Although the waves have diminished slightly since Tuesday, high surf advisories linger along the California Coast through Sunday. Large breaking waves of up to 10 to 15 feet are likely along the central coast.

The huge waves are tied to immense storms out over the Pacific Ocean. Some of that storminess is making its way inland along the Washington, Oregon and northern California coasts, and that has implications for storminess in broad sections of the United States, including here in New England.

The storms are already smashing ashore in the Pacific Northwest.  As of this morning, the coast of Washington State was under coastal flooding and high wind warnings, and high surf advisories. 

 One of these storms impulse from the Pacific has already crossed the Rocky Mountains and will start to cause trouble in Texas and Louisiana today.  There, severe thunderstorms, perhaps a few tornadoes and some local flash floods and perhaps a couple of tornadoes will menace the region on this Boxing Day.

That one should largely fade, giving us only clouds and the risk of very light precipitation Saturday. 

Hot on the heels of this storm will be another the will have blown in off the Pacific Ocean and then dived down into the central Plains. This one, like the one today, also seems destined to create some severe weather and flash floods, this time in Louisiana and Mississippi.

Eventually this storm will curve northeastward and affect us here in New England Sunday and Monday. Unfortunately for you winter lovers, this one looks like a rain event, with maybe some freezing rain to start, especially in eastern Vermont.

Morning temperatures this morning were only in the single digits, with some spots below zero. Same thing should happen tonight. That's really chilling the ground, so when rain arrives Saturday night or early Sunday, it will probably freeze on many surfaces even if the air temperature is a little above freezing.  So we'll keep an eye on that. 

This could be a fairly wet storm for us.  Early guesses range from a half inch to an inch of rain, but we'll know more about that as we get closer to the storm's start time.

After that yet another storm will blast into the Pacific Northwest, cross the Rockies, get into the Plains, redevelop and create a third storm that would affect us around New Years Day 

  We still have lots of questions as to whether that one will be mostly rain, mostly snow or just one of those All Of The Above storms. 

We also don't know how strong it will be, but it's possible it could be a fairly strong one. As usual we'll just have to wait and see. 

EDITORS NOTE: Apologies for the lack of photos or other illustrations with this post earlier. Either a problem  with the Blogger platform, or an issue with the WiFi at the hotel I'm staying at is not allowing me to add photos. I hope the problem will be fixed for future posts. Once I got home to a better connection I was able to fix it 

 

As Northeast Withers/Burns In Drought, Parts Of Canada Soggy

While the parched and fiery Northeast U.S. looks
 on longingly, the west and east coasts of Canada
keep getting drenching rains, which is leading to
some flooding and wind damage up there. 

 Boy, how things have reversed. 

Back in the summer of 2023, drought and wildfires across much of Canada had smoke from those fires belching across the border into the United States, including here in Vermont.

As it rained relentless here in the Green Mountain State, the damp air was tinged with smoke and quite noticeable air quality problems. 

Here we are in the autumn of 2024, and now the Northeast United States is in drought and burning, while parts of Canada soak relentlessly. 

In both cases, persistently stuck weather patterns kept the same conditions going over the same regions for weeks or months. Same thing is happening now, only we're getting the opposite extremes.

In Canada the stormy weather is mostly focused on the Atlantic Coast and way over in British Columbia. 

ATLANTIC

The stuck pattern has storm systems moving northward off the Atlantic Coast of the United States - much too far east to bring any needed rain.  Those storms, though, then get drawn northwestward into places like Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and the far eastern end of Quebec. 

The result is a long slog of rain, snow, ice, and wind in Atlantic Canada. Between Tuesday and Saturday anywhere from about an inch of rain or melted schmutz was expected in eastern Nova Scotia to four inches near St. John's Newfoundland. 

Wind gusts throughout this Canadian region are ranging through the 45 to 65 mph range today. It's really nasty up there. 

Environment Canada, that nation's version of our National Weather Service, is warning of localized flooding and power outages due to this week's wind and rain, 

Up in Labrador, which has never been known for lovely weather, is facing days of snow and freezing rain this week. 

PACIFIC

A series of storms and atmospheric rivers have been slamming into British Columbia this month. The third in a series of storms is hitting British Columbia today, spreading winds strong enough to down power lines, and rains hard enough to cause local flooding. 

The heavy weather is extending down into the United States Pacific Northwest with this round. Flood watches are up for parts of Washington State.

British Columbia is still recovering from an October atmospheric river flood and series of landslides that killed one person and caused damaging floods, including in and around the city of Vancouver. 

THE PATTERN

Those storms that have been hitting British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest have to go somewhere, but they are repeatedly hitting the "wrong" places.

Some of them have crossed the U.S Rockies, creating some snowstorms there. Then they've emerged into the southern Plains and parts of the Midwest, spreading rain, and even floods and tornadoes.  Then, they tend to weaken to nothingburgers by the time they hit the Northeast U.S., so we don't end up with needed precipitation here. 

Then, the remnants of these storms hit the Atlantic Ocean, hit other disturbances and draw lots of moisture from the oceans. They turn into bigger storms that keep hitting Atlantic Canada.

I don't see an end to this pattern for at least a week. Maybe toward the end of the month, there might be a few shifts that bring a change in the weather for all these regions. It remains to be seen. 

Still A Lull In Atlantic Hurricanes, But Pacific Busy, Hawaii On Guard

Hone passing south of Hawaii's Big Island over the weekend.

 An odd lull in tropical storm and hurricane activity continues for now in the Atlantic Ocean, with no signs of a new tropical storm forming for the next few days. 

The Pacific Ocean side of things has gotten busy, though. And that includes a menace to Hawaii.

Tropical Storm Hone (pronounced "ho-NEH") increased to hurricane intensity with top winds of 80 mph as it passed south of the Big Island of Hawaii early Sunday.  

The storm brought tropical storm force winds to parts of the Big Island, along with more than half a foot of rain on slopes that faced the east winds created by Hone. 

Flash flooding was reported in some areas, but overall damage wasn't too bad. A landslide blocked a highway.  High winds blew the roof off at least one home.

Hone weakened somewhat back down to a tropical storm once it got past Hawaii.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Gilma, once a powerful Category 4 hurricane is moving westward in the general direction of Hawaii. It should be somewhere near Hawaiian Islands by the end of the week. But by then, forecasters said, Gilma will have weakened to a swirl of relatively weak winds and showers. 

ATLANTIC

The expected super busy Atlantic hurricane season went into a big stall over the past week with fortunately no activity.  This was a bit unexpected as we approach the peak of what should be hurricane season.  

A welcome sight over the past weeks. No forecasted
tropical storms in the Atlantic from the National Hurricane
Center. This image was on their page Tuesday morning. 

This time of year, disturbances often move off the west coast of Africa into the Atlantic Ocean, where some of them turn into tropical storms or hurricanes. 

 Some meteorologists are saying that in the past couple weeks, the disturbances are moving off the African coast further north than usual.

That puts the disturbances in cooler, drier air than they'd be in had they been further south. The cool, dry air tends to suppress development. 

Ocean temperatures are really warm out there, which is great for developing hurricanes. But the upper atmosphere far above the ocean is also oddly warm.  You need a contrast between a hot ocean and a cold upper atmosphere to create the thunderstorms that eventually turn into hurricanes. 

The lack of a contrast now seems to be helping prevent those thunderstorms from developing.

That said, signs point to tropical activity finally, unfortunately ramping up, perhaps as early as this weekend.  Disturbances coming off the African coast look like they might start drifting further south into the warm, humid air they need to develop.

Other factors also seem to be coming together in the tropical Atlantic to produce storms. So things might get busy after all. By Wednesday, the National Hurricane Center began watching two areas of interest. One stormy area, not far from Bermuda, isn't expected to amount to much. But another system in the middle of the tropical Atlantic. 

That said, there's still no guarantee that new tropical storms will form in the coming week or two. And if they do, it's far, far, far too early to know where they might form and where they'd go.  

Dora The Explorer: Recent Hurricane Had Incredible Journey

A recent hurricane was dubbed
"Dora The Explorer" for its
long trek through two
oceans. 

Hurricane Dora popped up in the news in a tragic way.

It, and a high pressure system far to its north, helped created the strong winds on Maui that led to those those horrible wildfires. The death toll is now a horrible 106 people, and could easily rise further. 

Far less importantly, but pretty interesting nonetheless is the incredibly long journey Dora and its earlier ingredients as a tropical disturbance took.  The storm had such a long journey that it was inevitable dubbed Dora the Explorer.   

Hurricane experts first noticed what would become Dora on July 17, just off the west coast of Africa.  It moved westward across the Atlantic, briefly almost becoming a tropical storm or at least tropical depression on July 22 before reaching the Central American coast around July 28.  

Upper level winds over the Atlantic Ocean prevented wannabe Dora from becoming a tropical storm. And, being over the Atlantic, had it become a tropical storm, it would have been named Emily.

Anyway, wannabe Dora crossed over the mountains of Central America and landed over the Pacific Ocean on July 29.  Conditions were far more conducive for development over the Pacific, so by August 1, Dora became a hurricane and began its long trek westward across the Pacific Ocean. 

Dora was a beast over the open Pacific Ocean, lasting at least four days as a Category 4 hurricane with winds up to 150 mph near its eye. 

Last Friday, Dora became only the second hurricane on record to survive a trip across the eastern, central and now western Pacific basin, as the Washington Post noted. 

The only other hurricane known to accomplish this feat was Hurricane John in 1994.  Most hurricanes sputter out in the central Pacific Ocean because the water is cooler there, the air is often drier, and wind shear that's common in that area usually tears hurricanes apart. 

One possible reason why Dora was so persistent was its construction.  Most hurricanes look like spirals.  Dora was known as an annular hurricane. That means on satellite photos it looked more like a doughnut than a spiral.

Annular hurricanes like Dora can fend off dry air intrusions and upper level winds that would otherwise rip a hurricane apart. 

On Friday, Dora crossed the International Date Line at 180 degrees longitude. That put it in the western Pacific basin. Since it was now on the Asian side of the Pacific, it forced a rename: It was now Typhoon Dora, not Hurricane Dora. 

Last we checked, Typhoon Dora was finally weakening into a tropical storm somewhere in the western Pacific Ocean.