Talking about the weather - why is it so warm and dry

Cliff Mass posted an excellent first part of a two-fer last evening addressing our strange winter.

Why is the Northwest Warm and California Dry? Part 1.
Many Northwest residents are asking the same questions:

• • Why is it so warm this winter?
  • Why so little snowfall in the mountains?
  • Is the warmth and snow drought connected with human-caused global warming?
  • Is there a connection with the cold and snow over the eastern U.S. and our anomalous weather?
  • Or with the drought in California?
  • What is the role of blob (the region of warm water off our coast the last year)?

 Fortunately, there are some solid answers to these questions.  Combining some basic meteorology, logic, and the results from a number of new research studies, this and my next blog will attempt to provide a coherent picture of what we know.

But for the impatient and the lovers of executive summaries here is the gist of it:

• • Yes, they are all interconnected.
  • Natural variability is the probable cause.
  • There is no reason to expect that anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming has much to do with it.

 An excellent analysis - I will be looking forward to his next post.