A Few Notes on Washington's Early Winter Weather

Sam enjoys the eastern Washington snow

While the snow and cold air has been scoured out of the low lands of western Washington, eastern Washington remains cold. Once the cold air settles into the inter mountain basin of eastern Washington it takes a more vigorous push of mild Pacific air to scour out the cold air. So for the time being eastern Washington will remain snowy. The Kennewick area got nearly 10 inches of snow last week and no melting yet with more snow on and off this week with occasional freezing rain from warmer air riding over top of the cold air in the basin. To the north in Spokane, it could be a snowy week as well.  This trend will continue as long as the arriving storms off the Pacific Ocean remain on the cool side and do not generate much wind as they cross the Columbia Basin. The east side of the Cascade Range experiences much more winter weather than the brief spells the more marine west side gets. 

I enjoy observing how snow interacts with surfaces and made a couple of minor observations during our brief winter weather in western Washington. The initial snow in Bellingham arrived before the ground was frozen. The pattern of snow on this patio suggests that the metal patio furniture acted as a heat transfer and the cement froze faster adjacent to where the furniture touched the ground surface. 

This pattern of the initial snow melting and forming a layer of hard ice is a common feature of snow in western Washington lowland areas. It is more than people not knowing how to drive on icy roads - the roads are really icy. Throw in steep drumlin hills or steep sided anticlines and driving gets tough.

This image is a view of our neighbors roof. The clumps of snow angling across the roof are the inverted tracks of a squirrel. The squirrel had run crossed the snowy roof several times leaving tracks in the snow. The compressed snow stayed on the roof when the wind blew nearly all the loose non packed snow off the roof.  

Paper Birch in Western Washington

The cold winds howling out of the lower Fraser Valley got me thinking about paper birch trees. When George Vancouver sailed into the Salish Sea he noted the stands of birch trees along the shores of a bay in what is now Whatcom County in northwest Washington and named the bay Birch Bay.

Paper birch are a very common tree of northern North America, but are not common in western Washington. The tree's natural range extends down to Everett, but no further south. The tree is more common as one heads north along the BC coast. It grows in disturbed areas and is then crowded out by conifers.

At the time of Vancouver's exploration, the forests around Birch By would have had disturbances that would allow paper bark birch to thrive. One would be simply humans. Birch Bay was an area with significant First Nations population and they would likely to have disturbed the forest around the bay for fire wood, building materials, and simply moving settlement sites. I have done some geology hazard assessment work around the bluffs of Birch Bay and large middens of shells and other debris are not uncommon along the bluff slopes and are such that a non archaeologist can readily identify them.

The other disturbance would be fire. Fires set by First Nations people for managing the landscape for desired wildlife and/or plants was a common practice. Natural fires may have taken place as well.

Yet another disturbace would be the very high winds that flow out of the Fraser Valley. Evergreens growing on shallow wet soils are susceptible to blow down. During a rather intense outflow windstorm in 1991 hundreds of Douglas fir were blown over in the low land areas of western Whatcom County when high winds arrived suddenly with the ground being wet and soft.

Of course conditions like these exist in other places as well in western Washington, so another factor must be present that limits the range of paper bark birch. One idea that readily comes to mind is temperature. Paper birch is a tree of the north. A wood borer, bronze birch borer, severely damages birch trees and will kill the tree. One of the recommendations for managing the pest when you have birch trees in your yard is lots of water and mulch to keep the roots cool and planting locations on the north and east sides of the house. The tree can fend off the borer longer if it is kept cool. Hence, birch trees will do better in cooler climates. Cold temperatures will not eliminate birch borers and it is not the only controlling factor on birch borers, but it will slow them down. Birch borers are found throughout the paper bark birch range but are more common in the southern edge of the range and appear to be a major factor in the paper birch range (Haak, 1996).

The plunging temperatures associated with Fraser outflow winds, combined cool summers, past and perhaps present day disturbances and a borer may be why Birch Bay is unique in Washington State as having this otherwise common tree.  

Cold Walk Home This Evening

Update: The walk home met my expectations. Very cold with the highlight being when I braced my legs and let the wind push me along the ice. Perhaps I am being called to start ice sailing.

Sunday morning up the Skagit Valley

Yesterday I did some field work. (Yes, I work on Sunday sometimes). I encountered a bit of snow at my first site up the Skagit Valley near the town of Concrete. I then headed down to the South Fork Stilliguamish between Arlington and Granite Falls. A few snow flakes but mostly got cold hands getting my fingers wrapped around roots and cedar branches because of bad footing while negotiating the steep slopes above the river. Compact glacial clays make for very lousy footing. All in all a nice day out in the snow and forest.

Working along the bank of the S.F. Stilly

My walk home from my office this evening will not be nearly as pleasant as yesterday's field trip. The Fraser outflow is on full force with gusts in the 60 mph range blowing Friday's snow all over and sidewalks that tempt one to get out the crampons.

View from my office of wind swept Senior Center parking lot

Tri Cities, Economic Recovery and a Little Politics

Politics does influence and shape Washington's landscape. Much of eastern Washington's present landscape was shaped by the New Deal politics of the 1930s and those political decisions made years ago and far from Washington State continue to influence and shape what Washington State looks like.

An employment study by Garner Economics on employment growth over the past five years in metropolitan areas around the United Sates provides a rather grim picture. The employment growth in most places has been negative.  A very rare exception has been the Tri-Cities of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Washington. The Tri-Cities has seen the number of jobs grow over the past 5 years by 5.4%. It is the only metro area in Washington State with positive job growth for the period. All the others are in the negative, that is they lost jobs.

The economic situation many communities find themselves in often has little to do with local decisions. Policies and economic circumstances miles away have great influence. The fate of towns and cities in Washington State have been profoundly determined by decisions made miles away. Perhaps the easiest to see are the small towns that were by-passed by railroads in the late 1800s. Or in more recent years the slow depopulation of areas as timber harvests have declined from previous boom years and the industry modernized reducing the number of workers. Or the coastal fishing communities that have collapsed as fish stocks have plummeted due to decisions made miles away that impacted salmon habitat on rivers throughout the northwest.
The Tri-Cities of Richland, Kennewick and Pasco have been shaped greatly by decisions made in Washington D.C.  All three were very small out of the way places until the combination of excess hydro electric power (New Deal politics), a big river (the Columbia),  remoteness and a World War (politics again)brought about the decision to select the area just to the north as the site for manufacturing fuel for atomic weapons. Less than 2,000 people lived in Kennewick in 1940. Today the population is estimated to be 67,000.

The most recent anomalous job situation in the Tri-Cities has a great deal to do with federal economic policy. The Hanford Nuclear Reservation has received $1.96 billion in federal economic recovery money primarily for speeding the on going and very complex and in some cases dangerous cleanup work on wastes associated with the production of weapons grade nuclear fuel at the site. The federal recovery funding that was part of the economic stimulus package funded 3,124 full time Hanford jobs. Not a bad deal for an area that votes strongly Republican with a congressman that opposed to the federal economic recovery stimulus funding. Doc Hasting (R) the local U.S. Congressman stated, "I fully support Congress acting now in the stimulus bill, the Fiscal Year 2009 appropriations bill and the Fiscal Year 2010 budget to enact more funding for these efforts (cleanup)." before he voted against the federal economic recovery funding that funded the 3,124 new jobs in the Tri-Cities.

At present it appears that as federal funding drops off next year, the recently created jobs will no longer be funded and the economic condition of the Tri-Cities will be greatly altered.

Western Washington Snow - a Few Miles Makes the Difference

As of 10:30 Bellingham 28F with 3 inches of snow. 20 miles to the south Mount Vernon 40F. Seattle is 46F. The Fraser out flow makes a big difference in the local weather.

Confessions of a Weather Junkie

The current weather pattern causes me to do frequently check out the various weather models. I do have a reputation to uphold as friends and associates flatter me this time of year by asking me what they should expect regarding the weather. And if I am not up to speed on the latest model runs and temperatures they express disappointment.

Besides I love snow and weather events like the potential set up for low land western Washington snow impacts our Washington landscape. So at 10:30 I checked some temperatures around the state and it confirms an interesting pattern as it cools down.

Abotsford                         32     
Bellingham                        34
Mount Vernon                 41
Seattle                               45
Portland                            45
Kennewick                        46
Spokane                             34
Kettle Falls                        37

Abotsford is just north of the border at the mouth of the Fraser River Valley hence it gets cold first as the cold air flows down the Frasser out of the deep interior of British Columbia. Some of that cold air has started to arrive in Bellingham, but points south are all in the 40s. Bellingham will often get colder than even cold spots in eastern Washington during the early stages of Arctic air arrival as the Frasser Valley is an efficient conduit, but typically Spokane and certainly Kettle Falls get much colder.

All said an interesting few days ahead for us weather junkies.

Yakima Fold Belt to be Displayed in Yemen

Sun Sets on Horse Heaven Hills - Lisa McShane

This summer Lisa and I headed to the hinge in the Horse Heaven Hills anticline south of Kiona, Washington for an evening picnic. I posted about this site picnic-at-hinge-in-horse-heaven-hills. That nice summer venture is heading to Yemen. Art in the Embassies Program selected one of Lisa's paintings to hang in the United States Embassy in Yemen. Very cool to have a part of Washington State head half way round the world. We gave the painting a nice send off with Horse Heaven Hills wine.