What a way to end a crazy year of weather. That doesn’t, of course, mean that things will be any different next year. In true La Niña three-peat fashion, we will end the year with above-average rainfall. Month to date we’ve had 6.88” compared to an average of 5.36” and it will continue to rain through the rest of the day before we ease into what should be a relatively dry weekend. For the year we are at 39.6” which is a whopping 3.73” behind where we were a year ago and yet only .6” above average. The good news is that our snow-pack is still above average and at least for the foreseeable future it will stay that way. Great news for skiers but watch for avalanche hazards.
Today’s surface analysis, sat pic, and Wx Radar all show what we are in for today with a 978MB low-pressure system off of Vancouver Island with an impressive cold front that extends almost to Hawaii. When combined with the zonal nature of the jet stream (see 500MB chart), not much is going to change. While we may get a brief respite from this wet pattern over the weekend, next week will return with consecutive days of rain with occasional wind. Welcome to January.
The surface forecast charts and the 500MB charts also show good news for our friends in California as they will get more much-needed rainfall as well as additional snowpack in the Sierra Nevada’s. The long-range (96hr) 500MB charts show the jet stream continuing to be very zonal and continuing to drift to the south, coming ashore in Mexico by the 3rd of January.
For the Salish Sea, we can expect a coolish weekend with some light rain tomorrow but generally light wind. So the anchorages will be sparsely populated and it won’t be howling at night. A perfect weekend for cruising.
Happy New Year!
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)