[OR liff] Last Stop On The Pineapple Express

2532.

This is one of those things that's quintessentially Cascadian, if not outright Oregonian.

Quizzically, some things Oregon get oddly tropical names. Banana belt, for instance, which is typically taken to refer to the area of the coast from about Port Orford south, where the weather is warmer and milder than up the coast - the Oregon Riviera, if one wills. And, lately, due to the vicissitudes of Pacific Ocean influence, we have the Pineapple Express.

If you were out earlier today, you no doubt noticed that, in addition to the usual Oregon pall, the weather was remarkably warm. This is because, when certain things happen somehow, and La Nina has something to do with that, we get a stream of warm, wet air that fires up here at a quick pace directly from the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands.

This satellite image, clipped from the KGW website just a little while ago, shows the Express rather clearly - it's the long, filmy stream of clouds straggling into Oregon and Washington from the vicinity of the "6:31 PM" banner. Just below and to the left of that is the approximate position of the Hawaiian Islands.

An even more amazing diagram of the route of the Express is here: http://zebu.uoregon.edu/humid.html.

We do do things a little different in Oregon. Here, a Maui Wowie isn't necessarily something you buy to get you high.

And when you get yourself outside on a November day in Oregon and the weather seems a bit wetter, know that it's from O'ahu with love.

Technorati Tags: Oregon, Oregon Weather, Pineapple Express