We started the week with a deficit of rainfall and as of today we are only .2” behind and that will probably be gone by the middle of this week. While San Diego and the rest of California certainly got the brunt of this week’s rain, it is pretty nice today from Pt Conception south. Judging by the surface charts and 500MB Charts, California will continue to get most of the rain however Oregon and Washington will get pretty close to their seasonal norm.
Today’s surface analysis chart shows a weak high-pressure system (1025-1028MB) off the lower California coast with nine low-pressure systems scattered across the North Pacific. The low off of Haida Gwai has a cold front that extends from the Gulf of Alaska to just west of Hawaii. Combine this with the track of the jet stream, today’s sat pics and you can see why it will be a wet weekend on the West Coast.
The surface forecast chart for the 27th does show an interesting phenomenon for tomorrow with fog and heavy fog in gale conditions off the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and Vancouver Island. Does not sound like fun to me.
For the rest of the Salish Sea, the usual areas will get breeze: coastal waters, the east end of the Strait of JdF, Admiralty Inlet, and the San Juan Islands. The areas that are traditionally breeze-deprived (the South Sound) will remain so.
As we mentioned above, the other interesting charts are the 500MB or upper-level charts which show the jet stream and it is cranking. Earlier this week a flight from Taipei to LA recorded a speed over ground of 826 mph with the help of a jet stream of 250 mph. As you can see, the flow is still very zonal across the Pacific until it gets almost to our coast where it takes a bend to the NE.
With these systems coming ashore with regularity we can expect a warm front this afternoon, it’s already blowing 36-knots at Destruction Island. We’ll have another system with breeze on Sunday and then Tuesday into Wednesday. At least temps will remain on the mild side.
Enjoy the weekend. Stay safe and monitor the weather before you leave to go anywhere!
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)