Our very pleasant fall will continue this weekend and then temps will warm back up slightly next week for a continuation of our Indian Summer. There is plenty of sailing going on this weekend with the added bonus of wind in the Central and North Sound. In fact, Admiralty Inlet to Tacoma could see a northerly breeze in the 15-20 knot range from 1000hrs tomorrow morning until sunset tomorrow night with that pattern repeating on Sunday.
The area that could catch some boaters by surprise will the Strait of Georgia and the northern San Juan Islands which will have 15-25 knots of northwesterly breeze coming down the Strait of Georgia. This will ease slightly Saturday evening and then rebuild on Sunday.
This northerly flow will keep the breeze in the Strait of JdF fairly light all weekend. There will also be northerly breeze along the coastal waters on both days of the weekend.
Overall, this pattern will keep our air quality good with the bad news being that we are still well behind on rainfall for the month with no significant rainfall on the horizon. Unlike the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico which are going to get hammered (again) by Tropical Storm Fiona which because it is moving very slowly will dump a lot of rain on these islands. It remains to be seen if Fiona will make it to the Continental USA but it deserves watching.
The interesting feature of today’s charts is the 48 and 96hr upper air charts which show the formation of an upper-level cut-off low-pressure system off the northern and central California coast which is directly over a weak surface low-pressure system. The undulation in the jet stream shows why we are getting the cooler temps this weekend and the warmer temps next week. A fairly typical fall pattern.
Enjoy your 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)