May 18, 2011

70F on Friday?

Time to get out the shorts, sunglasses, and beach gear.

After one of the coldest springs on record it appears that temperatures will climb into the 70s on Friday and perhaps for a few lucky folks tomorrow.

The air is progressively warming and today temperatures hit the mid 60s in much of the lowlands. Warm enough to get our old friend, the Sound Breeze, to start up. The Sound Breeze is our regional sea breeze that is caused by the difference in temperature between a relatively warm Puget Sound interior and the cooler water to the north. Here are some winds from the Washington State ferries this afternoon:

Moderate (16-18 kt) northerlies associated with the Sound breeze in mid-Sound. As the land gets warmer, the Sound breeze strengths. Tomorrow the air will warm further and high pressure will build along the coast (see graphic). There will be no offshore flow, so don't expect a scorcher! Another step up of a few degrees.


On Friday, this benign process will continue, with a few more degrees added to the total. Probcast, the UW high-tech prediction system, which is generally very good for such dry, warm periods, is going 70F at Sea Tac on Friday (see graphic).

And if you want real warmth, head over to eastern Washington, where upper 70s and 80s will reign on Friday (see probcast Friday max temp max on Friday below)

The weekend? Cooler, with a few light showers. Sorry....

Finally, beautiful example of cirrus moving in aloft midday on the Olympics cam. And you can see cumulus forming over the Olympics....but the atmosphere is too stable for much development.

5 comments:

  1. Cliff...can't you give is a warm saturday too? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cliff,
    Is that smoke coming down from BC all the way to the central valley this morning?

    http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/4km/NW/VIS4NW.GIF

    So glad to be coming home to warm weather tonight. Atlanta has been cold.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Given what our weather has been this spring, I will gladly take whatever sun and warmth we can get.

    ReplyDelete
  4. @Harrison, unfortunately Cliff's powers cannot override the no good weather on weekends rule. That one is hard wired in the fabric of the universe

    ReplyDelete
  5. The clouds can roll in all they want this weekend, I just hope for no rain on Sunday during our CF fundraising walk at the Seattle Center. Can you do that for us Cliff?

    ReplyDelete

Please make sure your comments are civil. Name calling and personal attacks are not appropriate.

Should I Let AI Write My Blogs?

I spend a lot of time thinking about and writing my blogs.   Could AI apps do the work for me?   Could any of you tell the difference? Well,...