Plenty going on this weekend not to mention folks getting out to practice for the opening CYC Center Sound Series Race, Blakely Rock next weekend.
As you can see from the satellite image and the Langley Hill Radar we have a frontal system moving through the area today with a weakening low-pressure system sliding southeast from the central BC coast to off the mouth of the Columbia River by Sunday morning. This is not a particularly strong system so there will be some post-frontal breeze (westerly 20+knots) in the central and eastern Straits tonight and into tomorrow morning. This will ease and become a southerly-southeasterly breeze(10-15knots) over the Salish Sea for most of the day before it begins to back off towards sunset.
By late Saturday another fairly strong ridge of high-pressure(1042MB) will begin to build over northern BC and this will bring east-northeasterly breeze to the northern San Juan Islands and into the Strait of JdF. Just how much cold air it will bring to the region depends on just how far south this high-pressure ridge will extend.
February 22 500MB 
February 23 Surface Forecast 
February 24 500MB 
February 24 Surface 
February 24 Surface Forecast 
February 25 500MB 
February 25 Surface Forecast 
February 26 Surface Forecast
As always, I’ve included the upper air charts that show the flow becoming almost straight across the Pacific by Sunday. I mention this because the jet stream got into the news this last week as a Boeing 787 Dreamliner was clocked at just over 800mph ground speed over the northeastern US as it picked up a 230mph tailwind from the jet stream which allowed it to arrive almost an hour ahead of schedule into London.
So breaking it down by event, the Jim Depue Regatta can expect a fairly consistent southerly of 10-15 knots until late Saturday afternoon, should be some great sailing.
The Port Townsend Shipwrights Regatta should see the same 10-15 knots but more southeasterly as the breeze flows up Admiralty Inlet.
The Anacortes crowd will see the same southeasterly with the possibility of gusts near 20 in the morning before the breeze begins to ease about mid-afternoon.
Sunday will be a very different picture depending on where you’re sailing. In Seattle for the Frostbite Series, you’ll start off with a cold, light drainage easterly coming down from the Cascades which will begin to die about noon as the northerly works its way down the Sound. This northerly will start off light but may build to 10-15 knots by mid-afternoon.
With Victoria, this will be challenging especially in the morning as the breeze coming down the Fraser River Valley will be fairly strong, bringing 15-25 knots of northeasterly to the race area. This will begin to ease by about mid-afternoon as a northwesterly breeze in the Strait of Georgia displaces the northeasterly. This will bring a northerly of about 10 knots to the race area.
All in all, it looks like some great sailing this weekend. Just be safe, wear your life jacket, and have a great time.
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)