It’s sort of good news and sort of bad news. Sure it’s the official start of summer, however, it also means we are now starting the slow but inevitable descent into fewer hours of daylight. And we are still not sailboat racing even though this morning there were more pleasure boats out on the Sound and headed for a weekend in Port Madison or Blake Island.
June 19 500mb 
June 19 Surface Analysis 
June 20 Surface Forecast 
June 21 500mb 
June 21 Surface Forecast 
June 22 Surface Forecast 
June 23 500mb 
June 23 Surface Forecast
Unfortunately, it also looks like we are in for a bit of dampness starting tonight and extending into Saturday afternoon as we have an approaching cold front which is visible on the satellite picture, Langley Doppler Radar, and the surface charts. The difference between last week and today is that finally, the jet stream while remaining zonal, is starting to creep north. This will bring warmer temps to the area next week however the offshore high-pressure system is still not very strong or very stable so it will continue to be pushed around and weakened by the frontal systems coming in from the Pacific. The 96-hour forecast shows that we may have another cold front coming in late Tuesday or early Wednesday. At least this front may disrupt the pattern of fronts showing up on the weekends.
As far as wind goes, with the front coming in there will be southerlies in the Sound however nothing very strong. By late Saturday afternoon with frontal passage, onshore flow will bring westerlies down the Strait of JdF. This will continue into Sunday with some breezier conditions in Strait of Jdf, light northerlies in Admiralty Inlet, light air in the Central Sound, and southwesterly flow for the South Sound.
So, don’t forget to have your Solstice cocktail at 1443 hrs tomorrow as a salute to summer and some better days ahead. Plus, don’t worry there will be pretty much perfect barbeque weather for Father’s Day, have a good one!
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)