The Darkest Seattle Day in December in Over Nine Years

For those of you who might feel a little gloomy today, here is a factoid from Mark Albright, research meteorologist and data guru here at the University of Washington:

Today was the darkest December day in Seattle in nearly 9 years.

Specifically, today here at the UW we only measured  0.44 MJ/m2 (mega Joules per square meter, a joule is a unit of energy), the lowest amount since 14 Dec 2006, when only 0.39 MJ/m2 was received.

Take a look at the solar radiation plot of the last three days:

Compare that to during Thanksgiving:

See the difference?

Here is what things looked like at noon from the Space Needle Cam:

Why so bad?   The sun is weak this time of the year and we have very thick cloud cover and substantial rain.  The clouds at 11 AM tell the story:

Remember, a light box is always the perfect gift.  Or a trip to southern Mexico.

Save KPLU

KPLU is a public jewel and listeners are determined to stop its needless destruction by a secret deal between PLU and UW administrators.  Administrators that seem to have little understanding how important this vibrant radio station is to hundreds of thousands of local listeners for wonderful news coverage, NPR programming, and jazz.  Administrators that are spreading incorrect information (such as the suggestion that the only way to save KPLU's jazz programming is by a UW/KUOW buyout).  KPLU could easily stand on its own as an independent station if given the chance.

Want more information about PLU's ill-conceived sales plan and how you can stop it?
Go to  http://savekplu.org

The key thing now is to email the PLU administrators who want to sell KPLU and tell them to give KPLU time to find its own financing:

PLU President: Thomas Krise: krisetw@plu.edu
PLU Communications VP: Donna Gibbs: gibbsdl@plu.edu

If you want to save KPLU (and have my weather segment available each week), please email these folks asap..  Next priority, the PLU regents.....thanks, cliff