Cliff Mass references a UW study, led by psychology professor Susan Joslyn, that found that people struggle with what the probability expressed in a “75 percent chance of rain” applies to. It’s a statement that makes much more sense if you realize that weather prediction happens on a computer these days — it’s not a guesstimate. Continue reading Getting a Bead on Our Improbable Weather
Temperatures for Thursday and Friday are forecasted to reach the mid-90s, with temperate Seattle earning an Excessive Heat Warning from the National Weather Service. Saturday will still be in the low 80s (but with a possible thunderstorm), with Sunday dropping back down to the upper 70s, thanks to an invasion of marine air, say the weather diviners at KOMO TV. Continue reading Heat Wave! A City Without A/C Pants in Sweaty Fear
NASA’s GOES-West weather satellite (aka GOES 15 aka GOES-P) normally sits in geostationary orbit, 22,300 miles up over the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Hawaii and the west coast of the U.S. Continue reading GOES-West Satellite’s Weather Imaging Goes South, Temporarily
Seattle’s atmospheric pressure was up to 30.79 inches at its peak around midnight last night, says KOMO’s Scott Sistek. Is that a big deal? It sure is. UW meteorologist Cliff Mass says the atmospheric pressure hasn’t gotten this high in the past 15 years in Seattle. Continue reading Does Your Head Feel Squished Right Now?
The Grand Hyatt conference room was packed with Puget Sound Business Journal readers who, if they sympathized with Ray Davis’s optimism, also have had their expectations tempered by the experiences of the past several years. Yet the takeaway was that while double-dip recession risks have risen, at the same time, so have recovery “risks,” due to the length of time people have cut back on spending. At some indefinable point, the dam is going to break. Continue reading Washington State Economy’s Upside and Downside Risks Grow
Raha was right, then, to worry about nothing going wrong. He was also correct about Boeing ramping up production, banks remaining under stress to recapitalize under more stringent FDIC regulation, and real estate not bouncing back until at least mid-2011. The gold bubble has yet to pop, interest rates have yet to rise (though any deflationary spiral has been mild), and delayed foreclosures are still depressing market values. Continue reading Before Umpqua’s “Navigating 2012,” a Course Check on 2011
