February 17, 2012

Big Winds in the Morning (updated)

A strong low pressure center is going to move across northern Washington tomorrow (Sat) morning and the winds will be very strong...there will certainly be some power outages.  In the infrared satellite this evening you can clearly see the swirl of clouds with this low:


 Here is the surface chart for 10 AM tomorrow--nice low center right in the sweet spot for Puget Sound winds.  Very like pressure gradient south and southwest of the low.  Gust over the water to 50-60 mph are quite possible.


And here is the 4-km WRF model wind predictions for 8 AM.   Very strong winds along the coast, and over the waters of NW Washington and Puget Sound.

This low is going to kick up strong waves and swell--reaching 25-30 ft.  Here is the latest WaveWatch III wave prediction from the NWS:

 Saturday morning would be a good one to watch the waves along the coast...assuming you aren't blown away by the very strong winds.

Here are the significant wave observations as of 9 AM Saturday morning for a buoy off the Olympic Peninsula coast....the forecast is verifying.

3 comments:

  1. I am heading to Long Beach this morning, Lucky mee. Looking forward to exciting breakers at Cape Disappointment!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yowch.

    Looks like the storm gods took down the LGX radar again...

    Last image from this morning showed a strong precip band was passing at the time:

    http://www.atmos.washington.edu/nexrad/images/LGX/CREF/201202181526.gif

    Methinks they need a longer extension cord...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cliff, weather.com is reporting possible snow at low elevations for SW Washington next weekend. What are your thoughts? Too early to tell?
    Thank you.

    ReplyDelete

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