A powerful marine push is about to happen. Extraordinary onshore pressure differences have developed as the thermal low has shifted into eastern Washington. Look at the attached pressure differences . The difference between North Bend, Oregon (on the central coast) and Seattle is now 7.5 mb and the Hoquiam is now nearly 6 mb higher than Seattle (8 PM). The latter is HUGE. I forecast a major push when that difference is 4 mb, but 6? Strong wind sand cooling temps have already pushed through Hoquiam, Shelton and Olympia and will enter the Sound during the next few hours. Temps will drop, winds will gust, wind chimes will ring, and a comfortable night of sleep beckons. (I REALLY love these pushes, I have to admit)
But that is not all!! A very strong line of thunderstorms hit northern Oregon this afternoon and early evening, with hundreds of lightning strikes, and winds gusting to 40 mph and more. Tens of thousands have lost power, trees are down, lots of heavy rain and hail. Take a look at two radar images (4:32 and and 7:24 PM) the line of thunderstorms is impressive.
Take a look at the latest visible satellite picture...everything imaginable...thunderstorms to our south and east and if you look closely you will see low cloud pushing northward up the Washington coast. I wish I had the coastal radar now...it would be fascinating to see the coastal changes illuminated by the falling rain.
Tomorrow will be much cooler! As they say at the Men's Warehouse-- I guarantee it.
looks like all hell broke loose down in the Willamette valley today!!
ReplyDeleteAwesome...it's here! Call it a marine punch! It's howling through and smells of the sea.
ReplyDeleteAll that dust in the air is making a dramatic sunset.
ReplyDeleteIt hit our house about 20 minutes ago. I had to rush to raise the outside bamboo shades, pick up the containers that had blown over, and drug the dog. That wind seemed to come out of nowhere. So I thought I'd wander to your blog and ask you what was going on -- only to find you'd anticipated the question. Thanks, Cliff!
Holy Heck batman - - I went outside when I noticed the sky was making one last attempt to have a sunset. Sat on the deck to cool off and then nature visited a wind that came outta nowhere!
ReplyDeleteNow the deck is shedding items like nobody's business and now I think I better go see what that crashing was.....
Thanks Cliff - good prediction. And great KCTS time!
High winds swirling 9:00 PM Mercer Island, now with some rain coming down. On top of 90 concrete and soil!
ReplyDeleteBroadview waiting for something wicked to come / or hell to break loose. Great looking sunset.
ReplyDeleteAmazing sunset tonight. Steady 20 mph winds and white caps here on the south sound. The temp dropped like a rock from 85 to 65. Barometer is 29.71 and rising.
ReplyDeleteI only lived in Illinois until I was 8 years old, but boy walking home from the bus in Northgate at about 8:45pm and getting home and opening the windows to strong wind and clouds at 9pm sure reminded me of those times when we would have tornado drills in school in Illinois! I know it won't happen here but you never forget.
ReplyDeleteAlso.. on my way south from Seattle I could see the tops of the clouds south of Mt. Rainier. Compared to the Mt. height, they appeared to be 35,000'
ReplyDeleteIs that possible?
Schaz mentioned about the dust/ pollen in the air due to strong breezes. Well here in Woodinviile, I had some BREEZY WINDS come through that created bit of a haze over the valley! Interesting! Must of been the onshore Marine push comeing through? Or I was think`n outflow winds from t-storms down over southern Cascades..
ReplyDeleteMarine push you describe combined with killer sunset has made for a unusually dramatic evening. Thanks for the great explanation!
ReplyDeletestarting to get a little breezy up in Lynnwood... we had our windows open for cross-ventilation and a gust came through and slammed the bedroom door... just as the little one was asleep!
ReplyDeleteHigh winds in N. Bothell and the dog is running around in circles which usually portends something interesting. occasional big drops are falling but nothing significant.
ReplyDeleteSea-Tac, in less than one hour, went from Temp 30C dewpoint 3C, north wind at 4kts...to Temp 21C, dewpoint 12C, SW wind gusting to 31kts
ReplyDeleteMarine Push reached Bellingham between 11:15 and 1135. At 11:05 it was calm. Makes one wonder why metars are still posted only hourly when at 11:42 the available BLI metar said winds calm, but the 11:53 issue was SSE (160 degrees) at 15 MPH (13 KT) gusting to 23 MPH (20 KT). That activity had been going on for half an hour at 11:42!
ReplyDeleteThe Gust front on the radar in Eastern Washington that moved due North from Somewhere South of Walla Walla and began to dissipate as it got to Spokane was very impressive and nearly gone by st 6:57Z. Showed very well on COD's radar loop. http://weather.cod.edu/analysis/loops/radloop.master.pl?Washington
TJ
The weather was so extreme in Bellingham that a sailboat capsized on Thursday night, and two men went missing, presumed dead. A sad night for Bellingham.
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