MORE TRAVEL PICS

I spent a couple days in Madrid and having just arrived ready for a vacation Madrid’s El Retiro Park was a great place to grab a late afternoon siesta. This was the view from where I enjoyed a little rest and relaxation.



Watching the moon grow during my trip was great and a reminder of how wonderful the weather had been. This is the moon over Cordoba with part of the Roman Bridge in the foreground.




Here is another shot of the moon. This time I was sitting at an outdoor table in a plaza in Tarifa when I noticed the white moon nestled in the blue sky behind a yellow tiled building.



The sun was warm for futbol in Sevilla. Check out the top right corner of this picture. Notice the walls on each side of the section with police lining the isles of the visiting team. I am pretty sure this was for the their protection. It was very obvious this sport is serious business in Spain.

WARM DAY, COLD WATER

It was four degrees warmer than average with a high of 70 at Sea-Tac. Meanwhile water temperatures are still very chilly. Sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean and the Puget Sound are mainly in the upper 40s and lower 50s. Lake Sammamish is 59 degrees and it is a degree cooler in Lake Washington. Not bad IF you’re a turtle.



It is still cold enough that being on the water is much better than being in the water. My Folks and Brady were heading out as I was about to go get ready for work. Check out the Olympic Mountains. They really popped today, still a lot of snow up there. Remember it’s that melting snow that is feeding our rivers, streams and lakes.



Air temperatures for the rest of the holiday weekend will be in the upper 60s and lower 70s while that water will remain rather chilly.

For the latest lake temperatures:
http://green.kingcounty.gov/lake-buoy/default.aspx

For salt water temps start here:
http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/maps/NW_Straits_Sound.shtml

A TASTE OF SUMMER

Despite the high clouds, many spots in western Washington warmed into the 70s with a few spots in the south Sound region in the lower 80s! The high at Sea-Tac was 76. It was a very nice evening to try out my new camera. My old one got a little too wet a few weeks ago, and by “wet” I mean in-the-lake wet. Now I’m back in business and my first photo shoot was during my dinner break on the roof garden at KING5. Here is one of the roof garden’s transient residents.



Here is my first movie with the new camera. It's 12 seconds long and it shows the high clouds we had at sunset.



I bet it was tough to get on that departing Alaska Airlines flight after a day like today. Sunday is also looking really good with temperatures similar to Saturday and more high clouds.

CONTRAILS A sign of change

It seems our spring time weather changes as fast as the jet planes flying overhead. In fact, we can look to the contrails produced by those jets as a signal for coming changes in our weather.

First it is important to understand what exactly contrails are. They form when water vapor is emitted as a byproduct from a jet engine. The water vapor condenses in the cold air and forms a cloud (made of ice crystals). Most contrails form in the upper levels of the atmosphere, above about 25,000 feet (more than 10,000 feet higher than Mt. Rainer).

If the atmosphere is dry then the cloud will dissipate quickly, or a contrail will not form at all. If there is a lot of moisture in the atmosphere then the contrail will last much longer. So the longer it lasts, the higher the humidity.

Increasing moisture in the upper levels of the atmosphere is usually a sign of an incoming weather system. I took these pictures during the early afternoon, notice the blue skies. By dinner time the skies were totally white and the front was just offshore with rain falling at the coast.



Another sign we have increasing moisture in the upper levels is when we see a halo or ring around the sun. In this case you can make out a faint rainbow at the base of the ring with contrails below.

SUNBREAKS Just in time...

Friday is starting out cloudy, but at least we did see some blue skies around western Washington on Thursday.
On my way to the gym, I stopped to capture some blue and pink with my camera phone. It's nice to see some colorful flora around town (even if most of it is potted).



At the end of the day we had a nice mix of clouds and sunshine. The good thing about having some clouds at sunset is that it gives the sun's beams something to play with. I took the following pictures from my neighbor Jackson's deck.

Take a look at how the rays are shining through the peaks of the Olympics.



If the wind picks up today, I'm hoping to get some spring shots from the water. Fingers crossed.

WHITE ON BLUE … a great spring combination

Spring has arrived. We are seeing the warm side of spring across the northwest and plenty of blue skies. Temperatures are back in the 60s and 70s for most areas and the mountains are looking great! Take a look at the web camera from the Sunriver Lodge from about 3:30 Monday afternoon. That white spot on the horizon is one snow covered Mt. Bachelor and in my opinion one of the best spots to spend a spring day.



About a 20 to 30 minute drive from Sunriver or Bend will get you there. You can see some late afternoon riders at the base of the Pine Marten Express lift from the Mt. Bachelor web camera at the West Village Lodge. At the time of this picture the Mt. Bachelor website said it was 54 degrees at the base and 43 at the top of the lift. Meanwhile it was 40 at the summit.


You can just make out the summit at the very top of the picture. When I lived in Bend several years ago you could ride the summit right up to the weekend before the Fourth of July. Even if it was just a narrow strip of snow leading up to the Sunrise chair at the base. These days you can still ride some lifts through mid May.

This is a great spot to spend a spring day. My advice: Go up early before the snow gets sticky and have some Buffett on the ipod.