Top all-time · #689
Cliff Mass
Personal blog · cliffmass.blogspot.comscience
Cliff Mass's personal blog at cliffmass.blogspot.com covers science. Since 2010, 93 different Hacker News readers have linked it 195 times, most often “A Major Snowstorm Will Hit the Seattle Region Starting Late Friday”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-11-01, and you can follow it by feed.
Rarely recommended · 4 of 40 sampled comments recommend it?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Cliff Mass's blog as a regional weather and climate resource, especially for the Pacific Northwest, and for his meteorology commentary on forecast models, heat waves and wildfire smoke.
- Recommended for · 4 comments
- Commenters call it a great Pacific Northwest weather resource and say its heat-dome posts give good context.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 40 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
This blog provides updated forecasts and comments on current weather or other topics
Most-linked posts?
- A Major Snowstorm Will Hit the Seattle Region Starting Late Friday5 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2019-02-07
- Potentially The Largest Storm Coming to Seattle in 50 Years4 people · 4 mentions · first linked 2014-06-22
- Record-breaking temperatures predicted for Seattle, Portland3 people · 8 mentions · first linked 2021-06-25
- The University of Washington Should Not Censor Faculty Social Media3 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2019-10-02
- Was Global Warming the Cause of the Great Northwest Heatwave? Science Says No3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2021-07-06
- The U.S. Has Fallen Behind in Numerical Weather Prediction: Part I3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2012-03-23
- How Good Are UW Students in Math?3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2010-01-04
- U.S. Numerical Weather Prediction Is Falling Further Behind3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2016-06-21
- Smoke has caused temperature forecasts to go crazy3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2020-09-13
- /2019/08/is-global-warming-existential-threat.html2 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2019-10-16
What Hacker News says?
You seem to be making an argument from authority by leaning on experts, and I don’t fully disagree with that approach either. But trusted authorities regularly betray trust, and use their label of expertise to push their own agendas. A recent example is found in the false attribution of the PNW heat wave to climate change ( https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2021/07/flawed-heatwave-repor... ). They also can be wrong sol…
Comment linking /2021/07/flawed-heatwave-report-leads-to-false.html
on “Google Drive bans distribution of “misleading content””Submitted Smoke has caused temperature forecasts to go crazy as a story · 298 points
HN discussionI feel obligated to point to Cliff's blog, it's a great resource especially if you live in the northwest https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
Comment linking /
on “Apple acquires Dark Sky”Submitted The unnecessary decline of U.S. numerical weather prediction as a story · 205 points
HN discussioncheck out fireworks for the Fourth: https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/06/a-big-fireworks-pollu...
Comment linking /2020/06/a-big-fireworks-pollution-question-will.html
on “The health benefits of better air”Submitted Textbooks Prices: Out of Control as a story · 106 points
HN discussionBut climate change is not the main driver of recent wildfires, and it at most one contributing factor among many. If old growth trees remained, if forests were cleared of dead trees, if stands were thinned, if logging companies were allowed to harvest in a timely/economical fashion, or if controlled burns were used with the frequency they used to be, most of these fires would not happen. If there are fewer fires, th…
Comment linking /2020/09/did-global-warming-play-significant.html
on “California to Require All New Vehicles Be Zero-Emission by 2035”Submitted Is Wildfire Smoke Making Our Fog More Persistent? as a story · 94 points
HN discussionThis one is pretty good for Pacific Northwest http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/ Another interesting specialist weather site to look at (not a community per se): https://www.windy.com/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What are some niche communities you enjoy?”Submitted College Textbook Prices: Out of Control as a story · 60 points
HN discussionClimate change is not an existential threat, although it is a serious problem. I suspect that while millions or even hundreds of millions may be impacted, the majority of humans will survive and adapt to it. A reduction in the population, even if forced upon us without choice, would help correct the problem. There is much debate about which humans exactly are impacted (the poor in third-world low-lying countries?) o…
Comment linking /2019/08/is-global-warming-existential-threat.html
on “It’s official: July was Earth’s hottest month on record”Submitted Why is the Northwest so warm? as a story · 50 points
HN discussionA usual counterpoint to this is to organize people to do a pop-up street - the Better Block project evangelized this several years ago starting in Forth Worth TX http://betterblock.org https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntwqVDzdqAU Also, it doesn't have to be for biking. Seattle has a parklets program where businesses can apply and fund to have parking spaces removed for additional sitting room: http://www.seattle.gov/…
Comment linking /2017/04/fixing-seattles-traffic-mess.html
on “A “bike platform” that temporarily swaps one car parking space for ten bicycles”Submitted Promoters of Climate Anxiety as a story · 39 points
HN discussionIf you're a resident of the Pacific Northwest, Cliff Mass -- an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington -- has an excellent regional climate and weather blog. https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
Comment linking /
on “Ask HN: What niche blogs are worthwhile to follow?”Submitted The Texas Flooding Tragedy: Could It Have Been Avoided? as a story · 34 points
HN discussionAre you familiar with this blog? http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/ it's run by a UW meteorologist.
Comment linking /
on “Realtime Analysis of the Oroville Dam Disaster”Submitted Does it really rain all the time in Seattle? as a story · 30 points
HN discussionYes, I think that news is about as big as the news of the acquisition itself. Very exciting news! I have been trying to get the leadership of WU and TWC to do this for the last 3-4 years, and I'm very happy they are finally doing it. In the beginning[1], they made comments suggesting that they thought it was a dumb idea or a waste of time, and that the barometric pressure data from smartphones could never be used in…
Comment linking /2015/10/apple-computer-could-revolutionize.html
on “IBM to Acquire the Weather Company”Submitted Lawsuit against "Discovery Math" in Seattle Schools as a story · 30 points
HN discussionHe posted updates yesterday and today explaining why the models were wrong, it’s a very interesting insight into some of the complexities of the problem and how many variables are involved: https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/09/much-more-pessimistic... https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/09/why-smoke-situation-i... Basically, no good news till at least tomorrow: >> So I am not optimistic for improvement either toda…
Comment linking /2020/09/why-smoke-situation-isnt-improving-and.html?m=1
on “Smoke has caused temperature forecasts to go crazy”Submitted An Historical Heat Wave with Record-Breaking Temperatures over the Northwest as a story · 29 points
HN discussionCliff Mass spoiled himself for me with this asinine blog post comparing Seattle BLM protesters to brownshirts in Nazi Germany [0]. It feels icky to get behind someone who will use his platform to sling ridiculous accusations and accept no criticism [1]. It's a shame - his weather reporting is uniquely good and fun to read. [0] https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2020/08/seattle-city-in-fear-... [1] https://cliffmass.blog…
Comment linking /2020/08/my-firing-at-knkx.html
on “Smoke has caused temperature forecasts to go crazy”Submitted How Good Are UW Students in Math? as a story · 24 points
HN discussionCliff Mass, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Washington, recently wrote a similar blog post about climate alarmism: https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2019/08/is-global-warming-exi... > Global warming is a real issue and we are going to slowly warm our planet, resulting in substantial impacts (like less snowpack in the Cascades, increased river flooding in November, drier conditions in the subtropi…
Comment linking /2019/10/the-university-of-washington-should-not.html
on “Apocalyptic Claims About Climate Change Are Wrong”Submitted National Weather Service weather radar website disaster as Flash retires as a story · 19 points
HN discussionI started using windytv.com after seeing it mentioned here. It uses the European ECMWF weather model, which is well known in the meteorological community to be more accurate than the NOAA GFS: http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/06/us-numerical-weather-p... . With this budget cut, it looks like that will continue. In particular, as a non-hydrostatic model, the ECMWF gives much better forecasts in mountainous regions…
Comment linking /2016/06/us-numerical-weather-prediction-is.html
on “White House proposes steep budget cut to NOAA”- vl · 2021-04-06
Submitted Is Outside Air Covid Safe? Are Masks Needed Outdoors? as a story · 14 points
HN discussion Sadly, look what happens when someone tries to actually implement a carbon tax. The Sierra Club of all people try and sink it: http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/09/will-naive-left-and-se...
Comment linking /2016/09/will-naive-left-and-self-interested.html
on “Atmospheric carbon dioxide passes 400ppm”Submitted The University of Washington Should Not Censor Faculty Social Media as a story · 12 points
HN discussion
