It is going to be a spectacular weekend as the front that blew through this morning is now over Montana, leaving us with a strong onshore, post-frontal flow. This generated breeze to near 50-knots about mid-morning at Race Rocks however the gradient is now easing and this strong westerly will ease along with it.
By Saturday morning a weak high-pressure system (1028mb) will move over the area and as it shifts to the east, a weak offshore flow will develop in the Straits and this will lead to a nice northerly flow down the Sound for tomorrow. This should be perfect conditions for the STYC Race Your House Regatta with 10-knots of northerly for the start and then building to 15-18-knots by mid-afternoon.
October 30 Surface Analysis 
October 31 Surface Forecast 
November 1 500 mb 
November 1 Surface Forecast 
November 2 Surface Forecast 
November 3 500 mb 
November 3 Surface Forecast
Sunday the gradient will continue to ease bringing lighter conditions to the area. This will signal the advance of another frontal system coming in late Monday and into Election Day.
Today’s satellite pic shows just how fast that front is moving, now being well to the east of us. The surface charts show a weak high-pressure system (1023mb)off of the central California coast with a very impressive low (975mb) just south of the Aleutians. It is this system with its attached cold front that will bring us rain on Tuesday. The low-pressure system center will be driven into SE Alaska by the Jet Stream so we will be spared the worst of it.
As you can see from the surface charts and the 500mb charts, this will be the pattern for the rest of the week. We can expect another system following the Jet Stream and coming in towards the end of next week. Welcome to winter.
Be Safe, VOTE, and enjoy your weekend!
Ed. Note: Happy Halloween!
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)