A spectacular day today with a great northerly up and down the Sound. Plus there are boats headed for Blake Island and other boats just out sailing around and enjoying the day. Unfortunately, conditions won’t hold for CYC’s Puget Sound Sailing Championship (PSSC) tomorrow and Sunday.
The surface analysis chart shows a nice ridge of high-pressure (1033-1034MB) just east of the Salish Sea but still dominating our weather. This will weaken and shift to the east overnight. As you can see from the station reports, the barometer is already falling, signaling the arrival of a weak frontal system that will break up as it hits the coastal buffer zone late tomorrow afternoon and into the evening. This will leave the Sound with a mixed bag of wind for the weekend and before a stronger system hits our area on Tuesday.
October 11 500MB 
October 11 Surface Analysis 
October 12 Surface Forecast 
October 13 Surface Forecast 
October 15 500 MB 
October 15 Surface Forecast
For the central Sound it appears that the best chance for wind will be Saturday afternoon as a weak northerly (5-10 knots) will fill down the Sound. Watch for the northerly to fill as the flood tide builds. This will hold into the evening before it all goes light Sunday morning. Sunday will remain light with 4-6 knots of northerly starting to fill by mid-Sunday afternoon.
Tidal current at West Point:
Saturday
0806 Slack
1300 Max Flood .81 knots
1624 Slack
Sunday
0848 Slack
1336 Max Flood .83 knots
1654 Slack
Enjoy the 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)