It’s not the same as last weekend but it’s close, with some notable differences. The primary one being that there will be more wind in the central and south Sound on Saturday than in the north Sound and San Juan Islands. Sunday, it will be light just about everywhere with some fog in the usual places.
As you can see from the surface charts for today and tomorrow, we are transitioning from a weak onshore flow following a weak frontal passage earlier today to an offshore flow later today and into tomorrow. This will result in a strong offshore flow through the Straits of JdF with Small Craft Advisories in place for the northern coastal waters, the Straits, and the northern inland waters. This will ease over the course of the day tomorrow with winds becoming light over the entire Salish Sea on Sunday. Both days should have some sun so don’t forget that sunblock before you leave the house.
Click any image to enlarge
For the central and south Sound, we could see 20 knots of northerly tomorrow morning and into the early afternoon. This will ease to 15 knots by mid to late afternoon. The reason for this is that 1042 MB high sitting over central BC that is feeding into a weak and amorphous 1025 MB hight sitting off of our coast. Both of these highs will weaken over the weekend and ease the gradient, reducing the offshore flow. This, combined with a relatively static jet stream, will keep any of those impressive low-pressure systems from getting into our area and bringing some much-needed rain to the valleys and snow to the mountains. More importantly, these highs won’t allow any rain into California to help the firemen.
So where are we in terms of rain? As of today, we’ve had .84 inches of rain compared to an average of 3.19 inches. For the year, we’ve had 25.07 inches compared to an average 28.76 inches for this date. Then there was last year where we’d had 37.81 inches by this time! Unfortunately, not much is going to change. Even though by Wednesday we’ll have another weak front approaching the coast, when it hits the coastal buffer zone, it will be significantly degraded. So I wouldn’t get those ski’s out quite yet, I would just keep enjoying the boat for a while longer.
As always, check the VHF station reports and track the barometric pressure gradient reports before you leave the dock, develop your own forecast, and keep an eye on what’s going on around you.
Have a great 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)