It is going to wet around here for the next three days at least that is not unusual for this time of the year. What is interesting is that we are still .62” behind for the month while still almost 2” ahead for the year. The monthly total will almost certainly catchup this weekend as we have a strong cold front which will come through tonight with yet another one coming through Saturday night and yet another one arriving on Monday.
The really cool thing this week is that the National Weather Service (NWS) got their new weather radar mosaic up and posted. This means that if you want a nice summary of all the Doppler systems running in the US you can see all the results in real-time on one page. As many of you know, the first Doppler in the Pac NW was called Sea-Tac while it was actually located on Camano Island. This meant that it couldn’t look out into the Pacific because the Olympics blocked that view. Then the NWS got us another system that was installed on Langley Hill on the coast just north of Grays Harbor. This meant you had to look at Langley Hill to see what was coming and then to the Sea-Tac radar to see what was here. Now you get the complete picture on the first click because all the radars are now linked and the displays are nicely stitched together. Check it out!
December 18 500 mb 
December 18 Surface Analysis 
December 19 Surface Forecast 
December 20 500 mb 
December 20 Surface Forecast 
December 21 Surface Forecast 
December 22 500 mb 
December 22 Surface Forecast
Right now the baro is crashing and the breeze is picking up around the area. By 2200 hours tonight, the front will have passed and we’ll have a strong onshore flow down the Straits of JdF. This will come with gale warnings in the Straits with westerly winds to 40-knots in the eastern Straits.
This will ease Saturday morning and then midday Saturday the breeze will become a pre-frontal SE as the next front approaches bringing breezy conditions to the Salish Sea. With frontal passage expected late Saturday afternoon or early evening, yet another strong onshore flow will develop in the Strait of JdF. These conditions will ease by mid-afternoon Sunday as we prepare for the next front to arrive on Monday.
Note the Dec 20th Surface Forecast Chart where we have a new record being set in the Roser Surface Low Index with 12 low-pressure systems plotted at one time. This means nasty weather and with the 500mb charts showing a predominately zonal flow pretty much aimed right at us, it also means it’s going to be wet.
Just be glad we don’t live in SE Alsaka or the Eastern seaboard of the US or in Fiji where a typhoon came ashore with 170 mph winds this week.
Stay healthy, stay safe, and have a great Holiday Season.
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)