Weather extremes in the West / Tye W. Parzybok.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Parzybok, Tye W., 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

West (U.S.)--Climate.

West (U.S.).

Physical Description:

ix, 281 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Weather extremes of the West

Place of Publication:

Missoula, Mont. : Mountain Press Pub. Co., 2005.

Summary:

Parzybok highlights the West's most notorious historical weather events in easily understood prose, with photographs, figures, and satellite images to explain the workings of the West's most unique, and regularly occurring, weather phenomena. With a multitude of statistics and scientific information, he explains what is causing the Salt Lake basin's "lake stink," how wide-open spaces influence Texas's fearsome windstorms called "Blue Northers," and why Albuquerque's "box effect" draws balloonists from around the world. Both meteorologists and weather junkies will find Weather Extremes of the West illuminating and entertaining.

Contents:

Climate and Weather in the West 12

1 The Pacific Northwest's Coast, Western Valleys, and Mountains 19

The West Coast's Deadliest Twister: Washington and Oregon 20

It Rains All the Time: Seattle 22

The Blue Hole 25

The Columbus Day Storm 27

Thermal Low: Willamette Valley 32

The Pineapple Express and the Flood of '96 34

The Brookings Effect: Oregon 37

Coho Winds and Silver Thaw: Columbia River Gorge 40

2 The Cascades 45

Rain-on-Snow Events: Great Pacific-Northwest Floods 47

Ninety-Three Feet of Snow: Mount Baker 51

The Wellington Avalanche: Stevens Pass, Washington 56

Extraordinary Precipitation Gradient: North-Central Oregon 58

3 The Pacific Northwest's Inland Empire and High Deserts 61

Dust Devils: Eastern Washington 63

The Heppner Disaster: Oregon 64

Oregon and Washington Hot Spots 67

Oregon's Icebox: Seneca 67

The Inland Northwest's Worst Winter Storm: Spokane 70

4 California's Coast, Western Valleys, and Southern Mountains 73

The Fog Belt: San Francisco 75

El Nino Storms 78

Santa Ana, Diablo, and the Catalina Eddy: California Winds 83

Intense Precipitation: San Gabriel Mountains 90

5 The Sierra Nevada 93

Dangerous Snowstorms 94

The Washoe Zephyr: Nevada 98

6 Desert Southwest 99

The Nation's Hottest Spots: Death Valley and Yuma 101

Daily Temperature Extremes: Arizona and California 107

Extreme Evaporation: Mojave Desert 109

Southwest Monsoon 113

Hurricane Alley of the West 116

Horrible Haboobs: Arizona 120

Desert Snowstorms 123

Lightning Capital of the West and Lightning-Ignited Forest Fires 127

7 Snake River Plain and Great Basin 135

Sloshers and Northern Invasions 136

Winds of the Desert and Wasatch Canyons: Utah 138

Great Basin High and Inversions 142

State of Extremes: Nevada 146

8 Northern Rocky Mountains 149

Rime Ice 151

Coldest Place in the Lower Forty-Eight: Rogers Pass, Montana 153

Precipitation Extremes: Montana 154

The Teton-Yellowstone Tornado 157

9 Central Rocky Mountains 161

Champagne Powder and World-Record Snow Intensity: Colorado 163

Not Quite the Icebox of the Nation: Fraser, Colorado 167

Lake Effect Snow: The Great Salt Lake 169

10 Colorado Plateau and Southern Rocky Mountains 175

Where Has All the Snow Gone? San Francisco Peaks, Arizona 176

New Mexico Snow: Sandia Crest 178

In a Flash! The Canyonlands 182

The Albuquerque Box Effect 185

11 Southern Great Plains and Adjacent Foothills 189

Thunderstorm Alley of the West 191

Colorado Low 195

Black Blizzards 200

Blue Northers: Texas Panhandle 203

The Marfa Dryline: Western Texas 206

Heat Bursts: Oklahoma 209

Tornado Alley 211

12 Rocky Mountain Front and Adjacent Foothills 219

The Denver Cyclone 220

Deadly Downbursts: Denver, Colorado 223

Snow Eater: Boulder, Colorado 226

Front Range Flash Floods 231

Temperature Roller Coaster: Montana 237

Back Door Cold Fronts 239

13 Northern Great Plains 243

Deep Freezer 244

Temperature Flip-Flops: South Dakota 245

Rapid City One-Hundred-Year Flood 248

Hail Alley 252

Blizzards 258.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 262-265) and index.

ISBN:

0878424733

OCLC:

55871218