Yesterday was lovely, this morning was beautiful, right now (Ed. note: noon), not so much. Don’t worry, this is a fast-moving front and pressure is already rising and as you can see from the current Sat Pic, it’s already clearing in the Straits. No surprise, when the front went past Race Rocks the post-frontal westerly filled in at 40-knots at the Race.
This morning’s surface analysis shows the front as well as a moderate (1034 MB) high-pressure system offshore. The surface forecast chart for tomorrow gets even more interesting as this high builds to 1041 MB which is a higher pressure than we had all summer. This is both good news and bad as this high will act as a pretty good block for the next batch of fronts headed our way. The 48-hour surface forecast chart for 27 Oct shows a very impressive low-pressure system (978 MB) in the mid-Pacific with an attached cold-front that extends from the Bering Sea south to Hawaii. This chart also shows that while this high is weakening over the Pacific it is still strong enough to drive this low and attached frontal system north and into Alaska. This will keep our weather very nice well into next week. This will be reinforced by the jet stream which will take a big bend around the high and then bend back to south and into the Pacific Northwest bringing cooler air with it, see the 27 Oct 500MB chart.
Oct 25 500MB 
October 25 Surface Analysis 
October 26 Surface Forecast 
October 27 500MB 
October 27 Surface Forecast 
October 28 Surface Forecast 
Oct 29 Surface Forecast
So what’s the bad news? This high is setting up right over that blob of warm water off of our coast and this high will slow the rate at which the blob is cooling. We have definitely made some progress compared to the Oct 3rd SST Analysis, so we’ll see how this goes.
What does this mean for the weekend? We are done with the rain however the wind will continue to blow from the NNE for now in the central Sound and it will continue at 20-25 knots and slowly back to the NNW. The breeze will back off over the evening and by tomorrow morning it will be around 10-15 from the N. The breeze will slowly build into the 15-20 knot range by midday and into the afternoon while backing to the NNW. By mid-afternoon it could be up into the 20-25 knot range.
Sunday will follow the traditional pattern of easing northerlies following the first day that ridge rebuilds after frontal passage. There will still be northerlies but more in the 8-12 knot range in the morning with another slow build into the 10-18 knot range in the afternoon. The center Sound will have the most wind of all the Salish Sea area on Sunday. The rest of the Sea will be sunny and lighter breeze.
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)