On Sunday we witnessed a pretty amazing sight...a condensation plume rising above Mount St. Helens. This does happen fairly often, but typically the sight of steam rising above the volcano is obscured by our Northwest clouds and rain.
The biggest thing today's sight did for me was remind me that Mount St. Helens is an active volcano. The lava dome within the crater is steadily growing, and rising, and with time the growth of the lava dome could actually fill the 1980 crater...and become high enough to become a new conical summit.
This would be similar to what happened with the Bezymianny volcano in Russia. It had a large eruption, much like Mount St. Helens', back in 1956. By 1977 it's growing lava dome grew large enough so that it had become a new summit. You can see this new conical summit in the photo below (courtesy the United States Geological Survey).

Only time will tell just how active Mount St. Helens will be...and what it will bring to the Northwest.

Posted by KGW Meteorologist Joe Michaels at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I had a chance to head up into the Cascades for a story about snow earlier this week. The scenery - of course - was incredible. The snow-capped mountains and glacier-carved lakes were really amazing. But the story itself was about snow...or, perhaps more appropriately, the lack of it.
The snow is melting fairly quickly at lower elevations this year, and there is just less of it overall because of a relatively warm weather pattern in January. All this got me thinking about climate change and our water here in Oregon. As you probably know, a whopping two-thirds of our water comes from snowpack. And most scientists, including me, believe that as climate change continues our snowpack will be melting away sooner and sooner each year...leaving us with less and less snowpack - and water - for the dry summer months.
So, for those of you who have lived here a long time, how has the weather been changing here in Oregon over the past 10 or 20 years? And are you worried about our water supply as we head into the next several decades? Feel free to post your thoughts by clicking the 'Comments' link and then using the form on that webpage.

Posted by KGW Meteorologist Joe Michaels at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

As I am quickly learning, weather in the Pacific Northwest can surprise you! One minute it is raining, the next it is sunny...or perhaps it is raining and sunny at the same time, just to really keep you entertained. It so happened that this combo - rain and sun at the same time - happened several times this week, and I was lucky enough to see a double rainbow Tuesday and Wednesday as a result! In fact, the rainbow I saw Wednesday was the most vibrant rainbow I have ever seen.
Seeing a rainbow is somewhat rare, and that is because a certain set of specific criteria have to be met. First, the sun must be at least partially out, low in the sky, and its rays shining toward some rain. Also, you have to be looking toward the rain with the sun to your back. Getting all this? =) If you do get this setup, then chances are you'll see a rainbow. But what actually happens...how does a rainbow actually form?
With the above setup in place, the sun's rays of light shine into raindrops, and when those rays of light enter the raindrops they are separated into a full spectrum of colors...essentially the colors you see in the rainbow. That's not all though. Once the colors are separated, those colored rays of light bounce off the inside of the raindrops and are reflected toward your eyes. And voila - you have a rainbow! You can see just how impressive rainbows can be from the below photo with Arches National Park (in Utah) clearly visible. [Photo courtesy Colin Braley, Standard-Examiner]

Hope some of you were lucky enough to see our Oregon rainbows this week!

Posted by KGW Meteorologist Joe Michaels at 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hello everyone!

You may have been recently enjoying your Saturday or Sunday evening, television tuned to KGW (of course) =), when a new weather guy appeared. That guy was me - Joe Michaels.

So where am I from? I grew up in New Jersey, then moved to Florida to go to college. I really enjoyed the Florida Keys - you can see by my tan in the above photo! That was taken in Key West, just 90 miles from Cuba.

As far as my broadcasting career goes, my most recent weather position was in Orlando, where I was working as the morning meteorologist. I'm sure you may remember the Florida hurricanes back in 2004. I was there for that unbelievable season, when three hurricanes hit my viewing area. I'm glad I was in Orlando then, not only to experience such wild weather, but also to help my viewers get through those trying storms.

I moved to the Pacific Northwest, Seattle specifically, in August of '06, and moved down the road to Portland last month. I'm enjoying working here at KGW, and I hope you are enjoying watching my weekend weathercasts as much as I enjoy doing them!

My biggest thing right now - learning about my new city! So if anyone has any suggestions on where to buy a condo, or where I can find the best Italian and sushi restaurants in town, feel free to drop me an e-mail!

Posted by KGW Meteorologist Joe Michaels at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

They were MORE than just showers today. Some of the garden variety rain cells we see so many of in Oregon grew into strong thunderstorms, two producing "cold air" funnel clouds like the one pictured below.

Another funnel cloud was spotted near Hillsboro around 4 pm. These weak cousins to the monster tornadoes of the mid-western states are rare, but we usually get a few each spring and fall. During these seasons, it's common for very cold air aloft (10-20,000 ft) to move over Oregon. But the sun is strong enough to warm the ground and the low level air. This temperature difference can create strong updrafts, and when wind changes direction with elevation, those updrafts can begin to rotate, forming a funnel cloud. It's very rare for these cold air funnels to reach the ground and graduate to tornado status, rarer still for them to cause damage. But they sure are cool to witness! The most likely time of day is in the afternoon, but as we saw today they can form earlier in the day too. So keep an eye on the sky and a camera handy, and be sure to email any cool weather pics you capture to kgw.com.

Thanks for watching and surfing KGW.

Matt Zaffino
Chief Meteorologist
Northwest Newschannel 8

Posted by at 7:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

What do a cooler than average tropical Pacific Ocean and an active Atlantic hurricane season have in common? They can be pre-cursors to a stormy winter in the Northwest. Cooler than normal sea surface temperatures in the eastern Tropical Pacific are part of what we call a "La Nina" pattern.

Sea Surface Temperature (SST) Anomaly map is courtesy of NOAA/DOC. Notice the streak of dark blue and purple color west of South America. Colder than average ocean temperatures here are a classic sign of a "La Nina".

As opposed to El Nino, when ocean temperatures in the same area are warmer than average. La Nina's tend to pile up heat and humidity in the western Pacific, which leads to an active and variable winter jet stream that often develops and delivers a lot of storms to the Northwest. But the same pattern in summer will help get Atlantic hurricanes cranked up, because it prevents a strong jet stream from arcing over the Atlantic. Strong winds aloft tend to rip hurricanes apart. Colorado State University's Dr William Gray's annual Atlantic hurricane forecast calls for a very active Atlantic hurricane season, based partly on the lack of El Nino conditions. We'll see how the Pacific behaves over the next few months. If a full-fledged La Nina develops and is sustained into fall, we can probably expect another rock and roll winter. Thankfully, it shouldn't have much of an impact on our normally excellent summers.

Thanks for watching and surfing KGW,

Matt Zaffino
Chief Meteorologist
KGW Northwest Newschannel 8

Posted by at 9:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)