Map illustrating the trajectories of atmospheric rivers (ARs) that made landfall along the U.S. West Coast between October 2025 and March 2026. The arrow endpoint indicates the coastal location where the highest integrated vapor transport (IVT) within each AR was observed based on ERA5 reanalysis. The color shading indicates the maximum IVT magnitude [in kg/(ms)] of each AR along the coast.

56 #AtmosphericRivers made landfall along the U.S. West Coast during the first 6 months of Water Year 2026. There were stark differences in AR activity between October-December (14 strong or greater ARs) and January-March (3 strong ARs).

Read the full summary here: cw3e.ucsd.edu/the-atmosphe....

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette announces it has found a buyer to keep the newspaper open Owners of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said they have found a buyer who had agreed to keep the newspaper open, less than a month before it was due to shut down.

The nonprofit that runs the successful, Pulitzer-winning Baltimore Banner is going to take over the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Of all the possible outcomes here, this is likely the best we could have hoped for.

apnews.com/article/pitt...

The Contiguous U.S. had its 3rd driest March since at least 1940. 🌵

Photo of the snowpack measurement team, with a five foot long tube to measure snow depth and water content, but it's resting on grass, with just sprinkles of white snow around the field.

When you go up to the Sierra Nevada to do the last seasonal snowpack depth measurement and there isn't any snow.
#climate
#climatechange
#water

From March 15 through March 26 there have been...
More than 100 monthly records & more than 700 daily records broken or tied.

Since March 1 there have been more than 1,100 daily records broken or tied across the nation.

Some record heat will remain through the weekend for areas of the Southwest.

Map showing the observed total days of max temperatures >=80°F for January 1, 2026 to March 22, 2026. This includes over 716 stations and many in the top 5 highest counts.

This is quite a map - highlighting that 2026 is leading the way for many stations stretching across the entire contiguous United States in the number of 80°F days (year-to-date). Remarkable areal extent of summer-like warmth... 🔥

Map from the Southeast Regional Climate Center: sercc.com

Report: the morale of federal employees is terrible. That is not good if you want quality weather information Another week, more record heat

A new report shows that the morale of federal employees is at an all-time low. While not surprising, as someone who was a federal supervisor for 20+ years it scares me - and it should scare you if you rely on things like air traffic control and of course accurate weather info. tinyurl.com/j9p3x752

Sunset over LA - one of the areas currently experiencing extreme early season heat.

RAPID ANALYSIS: It would be ‘virtually impossible’ for the record-breaking March heat currently scorching the U.S. West to occur without climate change.

We are seeing summer-like temperatures arrive exceptionally early from the Pacific to the Rockies this week. 🧵1/4

Map of U.S., from coolwx.com, showing locations currently experiencing record-breaking temperatures. There are countless such locations in the Western U.S., with hundreds of red dots (locations breaking daily record highs) and dozens of pink dots (locations breaking March monthly record highs). The region of record heat extends from the Pacific Coast to the Great Plains, and from Canada to Mexico.

Fair to say that the Western U.S. heatwave has reached record-shattering status, with dozens of locations breaking all-time March monthly heat records & some now approaching *April* records. Swath of record heat extends clear from Pacific to Great Plains, & from Canada to Mexico.

A large high-pressure ridge sets up shop over the Western US, generating record-breaking heat.

An atmospheric river follows the path of the ridge, bringing heavy rain to the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia.

This week’s heat from the West Coast to the Plains will set hundreds of daily records—many by several degrees. Some areas may even set March records, with temperatures more typical of June.
Learn how to stay safe: weather.gov/heat

3/16/26 10:40 am:
Record-breaking high temps are forecasted for the next several days, which will substantially accelerate snowpack melt.

Given current melt and lack of #snow in the forecast, we may see melt-out as early as the first week of April, ~5 weeks earlier than normal.

#CAwx #CAwater

Map of projected temperature anomalies next Thursday across the western U.S. from the ECMWF ensemble. The entire map is bright red and pink, indicative of extreme to record-breaking March warmth. Some location will be 25-30F degrees above average, with a few locations warming over 35F (!) above average.

All signs continue to point to an exceptional, long-duration, and record-breaking to (in some cases) record-shattering March heatwave initially centered across U.S. Southwest but expanding to much broader region next week. This is effectively a full-on summer heatwave in March.

I am literally at an NCAR-hosted, NCAR-led meeting where the future of U. S. radar meteorology - one of our most lifesaving enterprises - is being articulated by 180+ diverse participants. NSF NCAR is the only institution capable of convening our community so effectively.

A powerful kona storm will begin impacting the western end of Hawaii today, then spread across the remainder of the smaller islands by midweek and the Big Island towards the end of the week. Flash flooding, strong to severe thunderstorms, and damaging winds are expected. weather.gov for the latest.

Official map from NOAA depicting the relative rank of winter 2025-2026 temperatures at a county level across the contiguous U.S. Many counties in the western and central U.S. are depicted in dark red color, signifying record-warmest winter. All other counties in the west and central U.S. are depicted in dark orange colors, signifying a "near record warm" rank.

The official NOAA stats out this week confirm that winter 2025-26 was the warmest on record across a huge portion of the western and central U.S., which has contributed to extremely low mountain snowpack & worsened the CO River crisis. Meanwhile, record March heat is in forecast.

December 2025 through February 2026 was the 2nd warmest winter on record for the Contiguous U.S. according to Prism climate data. The widespread record to near record warmth in the west easily outweighed the cool temps in the east. 🔥🔥🔥

Map from coolwx.com depicting locations currently experiencing record-breaking temperatures. Numerous locations in the West are experiencing record high temperatures, with some locations breaking all-time February monthly records. No locations are experiencing record low temperatures.

Remarkable and widespread record warmth today across the Southwest. In fact, some locations in southern CA and southern AZ are not just breaking daily records, but also monthly February records--with current temperatures well into 90s and approaching 100F in some spots. #CAwx #AZwx

Eight skiers found dead as search continues after California avalanche It surpasses the toll of seven killed in a March 1982 avalanche at the Alpine Meadows — now Palisades Tahoe — ski resort, in the same general region.

Breaking news: Eight skiers were killed in the deadliest avalanche in modern California history.

Rescue efforts are ongoing as crews continue searching for one person near Truckee, California.

Tahoe ski company warned of ‘unpredictable avalanches’ in days before deadly incident The ski company whose guides and clients were struck by an avalanche that killed at least eight people near Truckee had warned about dangerous snow conditions in the days before the incident.

The ski company whose guides and clients were struck by an avalanche that killed at least eight people near Truckee had warned about dangerous snow conditions in the days before the incident.

Pretty remarkable that we have so many independent models of the atmosphere that can nail a fire-effective weather pattern ~2 weeks in advance. Wouldn’t be possible without institutions like NCAR and NOAA.

A dangerous, fast-growing wildfire moves northeast across the Oklahoma panhandle, burning towards the Kansas state border.

There is an extreme fire danger in place for the High Plains today.

From Monday's NCEI January report...10 states from Texas to the West Coast had their record warmest "November - January" period in 131 years.

Only somewhat "below average" in MA, OH, PA.

How cold has this winter been so far? The first 2/3 of winter 2025-26 is the 7th warmest on record for the Contiguous U.S.

The future of NCAR remains highly uncertain » Yale Climate Connections Members of the American Meteorological Society were briefed Wednesday about ongoing developments on the future of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which the White House has said it will b...

The dissolution of NCAR remains a very real possibility, as discussed at a town-hall meeting this week at #AMS2026. @climateconnections.bsky.social

yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/01/the-...

Winter weather alerts span a large portions of the central and eastern US Friday January 23, 2026.

Heavy snow is expected to impact a large portion of the US from Oklahoma to the Northeast where over a foot is possible for some.

Winter storm watches, warnings, advisories and ice storm warnings are in place millions of Americas. Heavy snowfall is forecast from Oklahoma to the Northeast where over a foot of snow is possible for some locations through Monday.

Do you appreciate @nws.noaa.gov's posts on Bluesky?

Did you know that this account is a pilot program that may or may not be continued and even expanded to NWS field offices?

NWS is soliciting comments here! www.surveymonkey.com/r/PrototypeN...
Press release:
www.weather.gov/media/notifi...

A M4.9 quake occurred this evening north of Indio. It is east of the San Andreas fault, far enough away to not change the likelihood of a quake on the San Andreas. It's located very near the minor EW-striking Blue Cut fault
earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/...

Map from NOAA Climate at a Glance depicting the relative rank of Nov-Dec 2025 temperatures on a county-by-county basis. Most Western U.S. counties experienced their warmest Nov-Dec on record, as depicted by all locations dark red in color on the map.

Well, it's now official (per NOAA): Dec (and Nov-Dec) 2025 were the warmest such periods on record for Western U.S. (and also for most individual Western states). It has been an extraordinarily sustained period of winter warmth, and this eerily balmy winter continues into Jan.

USDM map of California, Jan. 8, 2026.

California is free of drought and abnormal dryness for the first time since 2000. The state has also experienced periods with less than 1% of abnormal dryness in 2005 and 2011.

#drought2026 #drought #California