Weather Extremes of the West Book

	Preface	vii
	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	1
	Introduction to Climate	2
	Introduction to Weather	7
	Climate and Weather in the West	12
	How to Use This Book	15
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
	References	262
	Glossary	266
	Index	272