'The Blob' of warm water is back in the Pacific Ocean

SEATTLE -- A state climatologist calls it the second edition of "The Blob."

The waters off the Pacific Northwest coast are considerably warmer than normal for this time of year, and it's gotten the attention of researchers.

This is the second time the "blob" has returned this year - and the third in about five years.

When it happened five years ago, it was blamed for poorer survival rates for young salmon, more humpback whales becoming entangled in fishing gear as they hunted closer to shore, and an algae bloom that shut down crabbing and clamming.

"It certainly has impacts on the marine ecosystem," said University of Washington climatologist Nick Bond. "Our ocean here cycles between warmer and cooler conditions, and there's different sort of species that do well with warm conditions versus cool conditions. Our salmon tend to do better with cooler conditions, so this is bad news. We know there were some real impacts on salmon runs."

In addition to impacting marine lift, it could make our weather a little warmer, but that's not a definite.

There are a number of factors that dictate how our weather looks and feels in the Pacific Northwest.