Right now at the Meadow Point Marine Weather Station in West Seattle, the Air Quality reading is 272, YUK! You can’t even see down the hill.
Weather reporting stations around the area are showing some promising signs with a light westerly in the Straits and stronger westerlies east of the Cascades. We are however still showing an easterly flow on the west side of the Cascades into the Puget Sound Basin and that will be the problem as it will keep the smoke entrenched in the basin.
We have a weak high-pressure system off the coast and a weak cold front just to the north of us. However, off of the north end of Vancouver Island, we already have 25 to 30-knot northwesterlies and that will slowly work its way down to us. We expect to have a nice 15 to 20-knot westerly down the Straits to Whidbey Island by 2100hrs this evening. While the onshore is showing in the Straits and in the Cascade Passes it will remain weak in the Puget Sound Basin at least until about mid-day tomorrow when we will get our first significant rain. This will help to finally scrub the air and send the smoke back to Eastern Washington.
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)