Well, finally the wx picture is starting to change. The Canadians have gotten tired of being the only ones with a big ridge of high pressure to defend the coast and have sent the ridge south to the US. So we now have four separate centers of high-pressure along the coast and with the jet stream now becoming meridional as it approaches the coast, this will keep the major storms away however since the high is only 1035MB, fronts will still drag across the area. Note today’s sat pic, we can finally see the coast south to Mexico. Expect another weak front tonight and into early Saturday morning. Another front will come through the area on Monday.
The interesting feature of the front tonight and into early Saturday will be the post-frontal onshore flow of wind down the Straits, especially in the Eastern Straits where we could see 35-40 knots of westerly with higher gusts along the Whidbey shore. This will ease late Saturday and into Sunday as the next front approaches.
Also of interest will be the 96hr surface forecast chart which shows the high pressure strengthening offshore to 1036MB and a formidable ridge developing over the coast from SE Alaska to Southern California. This will keep our weather relatively mild into early February. Won’t help to continue to build the snowpack but at least it won’t cause a huge melt-off. Another point of interest on this chart is the western Pacific. Note that the ice accretion line extends south to 40N all along the Asian coast with the sea ice line not far behind.
For the Salish Sea other than a rainy Saturday, the weather will be mild. Winds will be strong as noted above however boaters can expect a light breeze over the central and south Sound for most of the weekend.
Nothing to do now but get ready for the Big Seattle Boat Show which will be open from Feb 3-11th at Lumen Field and Bell Harbor. Go online to SeattleBoatShow.com to get your tickets and plan which seminars you’ll attend and there are plenty of those.
Have a great 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)