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Unusually Mild Start To Autumn Across Northwest

This graphic shows the temperature departure from average for the past 30 days.
Western Regional Climate Center
This graphic shows the temperature departure from average for the past 30 days.

From a temperature standpoint, autumn is off to an unusually mild start across the Northwest.

This graphic shows the temperature departure from average for the past 30 days.
Credit Western Regional Climate Center
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Western Regional Climate Center
This graphic shows the temperature departure from average for the past 30 days.

The federal government's Western Regional Climate Center generates charts of climate anomalies. They show average daily temps running two to six degrees above normal for the past month in nearly all of Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana.

Washington State Climatologist Nick Bond said a lingering patch of warm water in the eastern Pacific is contributing to the balmy weather.

"Especially at night, it has been really balmy,” he said. “That air has been coming off that warm water and just been warmed and moistened as a consequence."

Another important reason for the mild start to fall is a persistent trough of low pressure west of British Columbia. University of Washington weather blogger Cliff Mass wrote this changed the prevailing winds over us to southerlies "that blow in warmer than normal air."

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Tom Banse covers national news, business, science, public policy, Olympic sports and human interest stories from across the Northwest. He reports from well known and out–of–the–way places in the region where important, amusing, touching, or outrageous events are unfolding. Tom's stories can be found online and heard on-air during "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered" on NPR stations in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.
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