Our wet and cool June continues, probably until the 5th of July. Today’s surface analysis shows the Pacific High(1032mb) at 38N and 150W with a real mashup of weak high and low-pressure systems surrounding the Pacific NW. The overall effect of this will be an increase in the onshore flow today which will gradually ease on Saturday. This means that by tomorrow morning there will still be a flow of breeze through the Chehalis Gap and down the Strait of JdF. As usual, it has to meet somewhere and that will be the central Sound.
The really interesting part of these surface charts is what effect this will have on the R2AK. Three teams have decided to go up the outside of Vancouver Island, which may have looked questionable yesterday however as the pressure gradient eases over the inland waters including the Strait of Georgia, the only wind may be outside Vancouver Island. The bad part of this may be that there will be plenty of wind, 15-30 knots, from the NW from the Brooks Peninsula to Barkley Sound starting late this afternoon. This will continue until into early Saturday while easing to 15-20 from the NW, which will mean a hard beat up the Island until conditions ease late Saturday and into Sunday. The inside boats will have 10-15 knots of NNW breeze until just after midnight when it will go very light. This will last until late Saturday night and into early Sunday morning. This will be a fun one to watch.
If you’re doing Pacific Cup or Vic-Maui this year you will also want to watch Hurricane Blas and Tropical Storm Celia. Only a month into Hurricane season and we are already on our third named storm. Currently, conditions do not favor the further development of these systems however the Pacific is warming so this could change.
The other interesting chart is the 96hr surface forecast chart which has the Pacific High setting up nicely at 40N 140W which if this trend continues could mean a record-setting pace for the Pacific Cup.
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)