Just when you thought summer was screeching to a halt, Mother Nature once again surprises us. Saturday looks pretty nice and just about perfect for power boaters, not so good for sailors until mid to late afternoon when a northwesterly will finally fill down the Sound. Sunday will be distinctly cooler as the remnants of a front pass over the Northwest Saturday night and into Sunday morning. Sunday morning will be cloudy however that will gradually burn off as the day goes on. Next week looks absolutely stunning with highs in the mid to upper 70’s. Welcome to Indian Summer in the great Pacific Northwest.
The Straits will display the usual pattern of breeze (10-15 knots) just east of Race Rocks which will gradually build to 20+ knots of westerly from mid afternoon on. This will fill down the Sound into the evening and then start gradually backing off into dawn on Sunday morning.
Sunday morning the Straits will remain fairly light and variable while in the Sound a northerly will start to come down in the early afternoon and build to around 10 knots by Sunday evening.
All in all, a perfect weekend to be out on the water. So go out, boat safely, and have a great weekend. As you’ve probably noticed, the leaves are turning early this year and squirrels are pretty active bulking up for the winter. All of which seems to indicate a cooler and wetter winter than normal. The NWS will have their big confab the end of this month with their forecast for the winter and I’ll provide you with those results.
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)