Don’t be dismayed by the rain this morning over the Sound, it’s not going to last. There will be scattered showers over the area through tomorrow but generally diminishing. As you can see from the surface charts the Pacific High is starting to weaken and that is allowing these weak frontal systems to sweep over the area. The upper air charts continue to feature that cutoff low that has persisted the entire summer over BC and SE Alaska. Summer is coming to an end but for Labor Day weekend it won’t be all bad.
For today you’ll have southerlies if you’re headed up to the San Juan Islands with some convergent zone activity from Edmonds to Everett. By Saturday morning the winds will be generally light and variable becoming westerly in the Straits and northerly in the Sound by mid afternoon. This pattern will repeat itself on Sunday with more clearing and hopefully more sunshine.
For Monday you can expect light southerlies in the Sound in the morning slightly stronger breeze in the San Juan Islands. This will decrease as the afternoon approaches with winds becoming northerly in the Sound and westerly in the Straits.
As I said, not all bad and at least we’re not trying to do anything on the East Coast or Hawaii this weekend.
Enjoy and have a safe weekend!
Bruce has raced and cruised the Pacific Northwest his entire life. He earned a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Washington in Biological Oceanography and learned meteorology “to keep from getting kicked around on the race course.” Bruce spent nearly two decades as Associate Publisher for Northwest Yachting Magazine, retiring in mid-2015, and was the chairman of the board of trustees for the Northwest Marine Trade Association in 2014. (photo of Bruce driving Playstation is a bit dated, but cool)