December 2025 was a wild month for weather across Washington.

An atmospheric river dumped historic amounts of rainfall on northwest Washington in early December, leading to flooding, landslides, and power outages.

A few days later, a windstorm swept across eastern Washington. Gusts of 83 miles per hour were recorded in Pullman, accompanied by an unusual winter thunderstorm.

In this episode, Josh Ward and Jon Contezac discuss significant weather events of 2025. They are field meteorologists for Washington State University’s AgWeatherNet.

The past year was the third hottest on record for the planet. It was the fourth hottest on record for the United States. However, damage costs from extreme weather events were lower than previous years.

The year started with fires that razed 58-square miles around Los Angeles. Thirty-one people were killed and more than 16,000 structures burned during the January fires. Tornados killed 43 people in the central United States last year.

In the Pacific Northwest, the Bear Gulch Fire in Olympic National Park burned from July to November. Meanwhile, an unusually warm fall and early winter has hampered the region’s snowpack accrual.

AgWeatherNet at Washington State University

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When Gary Chastagner was a kid in the 1950s, his parents typically displayed their Christmas tree for about a week. The tree went up on December 24—often after he went to bed—and came down after New Year’s Day.

Now, consumers want fresh-cut trees that can be displayed for weeks without losing their needles. Chastagner, a professor emeritus of plant pathology at Washington State University, has spent more than 40 years helping Northwest Christmas tree growers improve their product. For his work, Chastagner earned the nickname “Dr. Christmas Tree.”

In this episode, Chastagner talks about working on solutions to Swiss needle cast disease in Douglas fir and visiting tree lots in the Southwest to improve the hydration of displayed trees. He’s also visited other countries to scout out new Christmas tree varieties.

Chastagner was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the National Christmas Tree Association in 2018.

He retired in April 2025 from the WSU Research and Extension Center in Puyallup, where he also worked on ornamental flower bulb, cut flower, and nursery stock research.

The Dr. Gary Chastagner Endowed Chair in Plant Pathology has been created and is raising money to continue research with the Christmas tree and horticultural industries.

Read more

Northwest growers test new tree varieties as droughts threaten Christmas crop (NWPB, Dec. 2, 2025)

Oh, Christmas trees! (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2022)

Talkin’ around the Christmas tree: Stories, history and tips (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2022)

Ask Mr. Christmas Tree (Washington State Magazine, Winter 2013)

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Philip Meech and Caffè Lusso take people on a coffee journey around the world. A coffee roaster and entrepreneur for over 25 years, he wants coffee drinkers to slow down, taste the roasted beans and enjoy the rich variety.

In this episode, Philip talks with Washington State Magazine editor Larry Clark about enjoying coffee, his lifelong love of coffee, the art and science of coffee roasting, and his journey from Washington State University to running a successful micro-roastery.

Meech, a 2000 WSU business alum, also gives some tips on brewing and tasting coffee.

Read about Meech in “Coffee, community, calm” (Fall 2025 issue of Washington State Magazine).

Learn more at Caffè Lusso.

Check out some other coffee tasting tutorials on YouTube recommended by Meech:

· A Beginners Guide to Coffee Tasting (James Hoffmann)

· HOW TO TASTE COFFEE: A Lexicon for Coffee Lovers (Lance Hedrick)

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Want more great WSU stories? Follow Washington State Magazine:

• LinkedIn @Washington-State-Magazine
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How do you like the magazine podcast? What WSU stories do you want to hear? Let us know.

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