Smoky Hornby Island

On Aug. 4 and 5, Hornby Island and much of mid-Vancouver Island was covered in smoke from forest fires. It was a weird scene. At the campground, I overheard a teenager talking on a cell phone saying "the sun is dead." Not quite, but certainly blunted, orangy red at 10 a.m. and still hot as can be. My lungs still feel it.
The ferry approaching.

My kids on the beach, south of Phipps Point, at about 6 p.m. You can see Denman Island in the distance. Vancouver Island, behind it, is obscured.

Early spring?

Usually, when people talk about how this year's warm, El Nino-fueled winter is causing plants to sprout up early, I'm a little skeptical. Spring is always early around here. The first tulip shoots show up around New Year's Day. It's just that, when the weather is warm and nice, more people are out to notice the new growth.
But then I noticed the coltsfoot appearing.

Compare this to my picture of the same coltsfoot patch on March 4, 2009. It's further along, but not 24 days further along.

Discovery Park, storm coming in

I set out with pretty fluffy clouds sending interesting shadows over the water.


I reached the north beach. Hmm, what's that dark spot to the north?


The meadow at the time of the first raindrops. Time to find cover.


And that was the beginning of a (relatively) rare thunderstorm.

Fast moving water in mountains

A snowy winter, a slow-starting spring, followed by a few hot weeks and all of a sudden, you have the situation of a whole lot of snow melting at last and surging down the mountainsides into the sea. Lynda Mapes of the Seattle Times has the story.

Enter El Nino

Cliff Mass gives a report on what looks like a new El Nino. Hmm. I wonder if that might explain all those recent sightings of Brown Pelicans in Puget Sound?

Warm weather coming

Northwest weather guru Cliff Mass is predicting warm temperatures this weekend - reaching the 70s Fahrenheit(or the 20s Celsius)on Sunday.

If you really need sunshine

Cliff Mass has a comprehensive explanation why Sequim, Wash. is a good bet.