January is just that kind of a month, a little bit of everything. At least we’re not getting what’s happening in the Midwest and East Coast. We were ahead on rainfall for the month for a while, but not this week as we are now .67” behind. As you will see, this will probably be erased this coming week.
Today’s sat pic is especially interesting as it shows the series of fronts we have headed our way. It also shows the next front headed into California. Then if you combine the sat pic with the surface analysis chart you will see why we have gale warnings in the Strait of JdF. With another ridge of high-pressure inland (1043MB) and 995MB low just offshore, that is a pretty steep pressure gradient.
That gradient will ease substantially by Saturday morning bringing light air to the Salish Sea, especially the South Sound.
Sunday will see the conditions change as another series of systems approaches the Pacific NW. Both rain and wind will slowly increase over the day with the rest of the week looking very similar.
The other charts of interest today are the 500Mb, upper-level charts. The chart for today shows a zonal flow across the Pacific before it takes a bend to the north just off the coast of California with the jet stream coming ashore just north of San Francisco. By Sunday this flow becomes even more zonal as the jet stream will now come ashore near the California-Mexico Border. This will allow cooler temps into the Pacific Northwest but nothing like the deep freeze we just had.
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)