You had to love last weekend with beautiful weather and great, steady breeze. It is, however, still winter in the Pacific NW (and the rest of the country) so don’t get used to it. While the Central, Southeast, and NE US will get slammed again this weekend we are just going to get a bit of a quick hitter bringing some breeze and some rain. The jet stream will remain zonal over the Pacific but turing to a more SW to NE flow as it approaches the coast which will bring some warming however that will be very temporary as the jet stream will return to zonal flow by Monday with the stream well south of the Pac NW.
Today’s surface analysis chart shows a relatively benign picture with a weak high-pressure system(1028MB) over us and the remains of the stronger offshore high (1029MB) having moved south to being off the CA-MX Border. The mid-Pacific is a mishmash of low-pressure systems which, with their attached frontal systems, will begin marching into the Pacific NW this weekend and continuing into the coming week bringing a mix of rain and the occasional breeze. Not catastrophic amounts of either except maybe along the coast, but to be watched while over the Inland Waters.
These will be quick-hitting systems and as is the nature of these, how much wind you have for how long will depend upon where you are in the Salish Sea. Starting tomorrow morning winds will be light in the south and central Sound however Admiralty Inlet and the very eastern end of the Strait of JdF will have a pre-frontal SE in the 15-25 knot range. This will hold until midday to early afternoon when a post-frontal SW breeze will start coming through the Chehalis Gap and into the south Sound. By mid-afternoon, the post-frontal S-SW breeze will be in the 15-25 knot range from Tacoma to Edmonds with a stronger breeze north of Edmonds, very much like what can happen on the Scatchet Head Race. By early evening this breeze will ease over the Sound while remaining SE 15-30 knots in the eastern Straits.
By midnight Saturday the breeze will return to the central and north Sound, and Admiralty Inlet. Since it’s a quick-hitter, the breeze will ease in the early morning hours with some areas of 5-15 knot SE. Near midday Sunday the south Sound will be very light with 5-10 knots of S-SW over the rest of the area. Around mid-afternoon, there will be more breeze like 10-20 knots of S-SW from Tacoma to the eastern Strait of JdF.
As far as rain goes, it looks like it will hold off until late Saturday afternoon or early evening. Steady rain until midday Sunday with another front arriving very late Sunday or early Monday. Rain, break, rain, repeat into next week.
Be safe, 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)