You can’t say we didn’t warn you about the rain and the wind. As of today, we are 2.7 INCHES of rain ahead of where we should be on a normal year and it’s only the 8th. Plus, there’s more coming. Just not until Saturday night and we will then have a series of fronts come into the area well into next week.
Today’s surface analysis chart shows a pair of fairly ominous low-pressure systems. One is to the NW of us at 985mb with another one due west of us at 964mb and moving our direction. Note that both systems have the labels of Hurricane Force and if you look at today’s’ sat pic you’ll see it really does look like a hurricane! A closer look at today’s chart shows the front that came through this morning and a noticeable gap in the isobars which is why we have light air over the Central Sound. This will continue into tomorrow with the wind finally starting to build late tomorrow afternoon or early evening. Tomorrow’s forecast chart shows high-pressure building over the area which will drive that big low-pressure system towards SE Alaska. The attached frontal system will drag over our area late tomorrow or early Sunday.
January 8 500 mb 
January 8 Surface Analysis 
January 9 Surface Forecast 
January 10 500 mb 
January 10 Surface Forecast 
January 11 Surface Forecast 
January 12 500 mb 
January 12 Surface Forecast
Yesterday and today were very much the same as far as the wind on the racecourse goes with more wind on the east side of the Sound and by more I mean 3-5 knots with zero on the west side of the Sound. The good news is that there isn’t much tide but it will be pretty much against us all the way around the course.
Tidal Current at Alki
0830 Slack
1042 Max Flood .35 knots
1242 Slack
1700 Max Ebb .87 knots
There won’t be a lot of wind but at least it shouldn’t be raining. The 500mb charts show that upper air flow is primarily zonal with the jet stream to the south of us. This will continue to direct frontal systems into our area probably for the foreseeable future. In other words, more rain is on its way.
Be safe, stay healthy, and enjoy the day.
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)