Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik

Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik

@joeboomzag.bsky.social

Pacific Northwest weather/climate forecasts. Website: theconvergencezone.com

2K followers215 following444 posts

I've been working on some tide forecasts with guidance from @edwardsanthonyb.bsky.social My model has an 83% chance of setting a record on Tuesday. Any record will only last a month. The model has a near 100% chance of setting the record in late Nov since the baseline will be 11 cm higher.

Daniel Swain@weatherwest.bsky.social

NWS San Diego has issued new Coastal Flood Warning for near-record/record-breaking tides and possible widespread coastal inundation in SoCal Sun-Thu. And there's no king tides or major storms in the mix yet...just elevated sea levels from extreme El Nino plus long-term warming.

Also, my forecast is considerably above the NWS forecast -- I'm predicting 8.44 ft above MLLW with 90% confidence at 8.10-8.80 ft for Tuesday high tide. Preliminary Nov 25 forecast is 8.6-8.8 ft above MLLW.

My forecast = NOAA's tide table + two corrections: (1) how far the San Diego gauge is running above its table right now (+42 cm, the El Niño sea-level anomaly), carried forward with a slow decay toward its weekly mean; (2) an ECMWF ensemble pressure/wind term. Error band from a 2-year hindcast.

Ski season is approaching and my where2.ski model still predicts a disastrous snow/ski season for the PNW. In Washington, odds of below-normal base depth by March are around 80% with a most likely prediction of 10-15th percentile snow depth at all major resorts. Go south for snow this winter!

On the flip side, Palisades Tahoe shows the classic strong El Niño response -- a slow start to the season followed by an excellent forecast in early 2027. For the PNW, November-December will be critical for snowfall before the storm track shifts south later in the winter.

San Diego is looking Seattle-like this morning after the remnants of tropical storm Rachel moved through overnight. Nothing about this storm felt tropical, it brought lower humidity and cooler temperatures thanks to the trough interaction.

Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik reposted

Just did some number crunching using latest (Oct 1) ECMWF seasonal data, and I must say that I've never seen such high predictive confidence in a very wet California winter. This is a truly extraordinary forecast amid a record-strength El Niño event. [Thread: please read to end.]

A Kelvin Wave associated with El Niño will bring higher sea levels to California this fall, likely causing coastal flooding. The coastal wave is now approaching California from the south. It's tricky to track these things but I made a decent attempt...

Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik reposted

Ty France vs Trevor Megill Flyout 💢 Exit velo: 105.3 mph Launch angle: 49 deg Projected distance: 325 ft This would have been a home run at Daikin Park and nowhere else SD @ MIL 🔺 9th

I have a 5 year old and have been wondering what college will look like for her in 13 years. Pretty sure nobody is going to be paying decent money for any education other than “everything is in person oral or hand written and AI is banned from class”.

I built a statistical model to forecast ski conditions using seasonal climate models. Summit at Snoqualmie in Washington has the worst ski forecast in the western US this winter. Makes sense given the “El Niño on steroids” model signal. Go south for better skiing ⛷️ Try it out: where2.ski

Who in their right mind is going to use OpenAI models after this???

Dan@danielthemaniel.com

This part is crazy. Every paragraph is worse than the last. Perhaps I was naive, but I didn't think OpenAI capable of being this dishonest.

Will SoCal feel the effects of Hurricane Marie this weekend? Yes, but it won't be a major weather event. Impacts: - Increased surf (!!! dangerous for holiday weekend !!!) - Increased cloud cover - Warmer temperatures and higher humidity - Scattered rain showers (trace-0.10" for most)

Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik reposted

There is considerable ensemble spread in Hurricane Lowell's eventual turn northward starting sometime this weekend. About half of the 12Z ECMWF ensemble members have a track near/over the Hawaiian islands that could result in concerning impacts early next week.

Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik reposted

Update: The tropical weather feature of great interest--Tropical Storm (& soon hurricane) #Marie--has now developed. Marie's track will dictate potential CA impacts over Labor Day; uncertainty remains high, w/significant impacts possible (but direct landfall unlikely). [Thread]

Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik reposted

An incredibly well-timed Landsat 9 pass captured the effects of yesterday’s catastrophic glacier collapse near the Nepal–Tibet border. The event was so massive that it was detected by seismometers around the world.

Final Hawaii precipitation maps from Hurricane Lala. I pulled gauge observations and blended that with model data to get the spatial pattern. My method estimates a max of 45 inches on the southeastern flank of Mauna Loa, but there were no gauges in that area to verify.

Impressive rainfall totals on the big island of Hawaii from Hurricane Lala. Might not be a landfall but this is the perfect track to dump rain on the eastern slopes. Max of 19 inches and counting on the east side of Mauna Kea.

Is anyone else out there in the science world dealing with the dramatic change in our day-to-day jobs that occurred in the last year? I can't be the only one who hasn't written a line of code since spring and now directs agents who are becoming increasingly autonomous. This all happened crazy fast.

While most of the West is either scorching hot or on fire or both, SoCal is experiencing a marine heat wave. Dew points have hovered in the mid-60s F in LA and San Diego since early July -- around 90th percentile. Not quite the perfect weather they are known for, but the ocean is nice to swim in!

Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik reposted

A major new wildfire outbreak is now underway across interior Pacific Northwest, with dozens (or more) new wildfires already popping up in eastern Oregon & Washington following tens of thousands of lightning strikes in region experiencing moderate to extreme drought. #ORwx #WAwx

If you’re wondering how the World Cup is going in Seattle, Airbnb just emailed us offering cash bonuses in exchange for securing bookings during matches. The exorbitant dynamic pricing / politics has likely backfired and I suspect Seattle will have the same or less tourists than a typical summer.

Should be a fun event for locals with the smaller crowds and lower ticket prices if you wait it out! And if you want to plan a last minute trip to Seattle, I have a feeling you’ll be able to secure cheap lodging if you wait another week or two.