August 29, 2015

The Coastal Radar Sees the Storm Center

There is some amazing imagery this morning.    First, the infrared satellite imagery around 5 AM.  You can see the swirl of clouds around the low center.  Just a beautiful, classic storm.  A very deep low center (around 990 hPa) for this time of the year.


But now the real treat....here is a recent (8 AM) image from the Langley Hill radar near Hoquiam. You can clearly see the swirl of precipitation around the low center.   We get these images roughly every 6 minutes and they tels us exactly where this storm (and others) are located.  An extraordinary tools for local meteorologists.  I should show this to Senator Cantwell, who played a major role in getting the radar.


The latest NWS HRRR (High Resolution Rapid Refresh) forecast has the low deepening as it approaches us (to around 988 hPa) and passing over the NW tip of the Olympic Peninsula (see forecast for 11 AM)

Seattle WindWatch is always a good place to check out high wind situations in our area and its display of the UW wind forecast shows strong gusts (greater than 50 mph) over Puget Sound, the coast, and over NW Washington.  Over 40 mph possible over Seattle.

Some of you will lose power....sorry.  Charge your phones and devices NOW!

10 comments:

  1. I don't know what it takes to split a sound 44" diameter maple down the middle, but that's what we had about 11 a.m., 4 mi. SE of Port Angeles. This tree only lost a few small limbs in the '06 windstorm. Trees down all over the Oly peninsula esp. West Side, this is not the day to visit the upper coast.
    .

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  2. Pretty windy this morning at the beach (Long Beach) with sand scooting along 3' above the surface driven north at 40+ mph. Sporadic rain. Maybe 3/10ths or so in last 24 hours. Wind Storm lessening now (near 2 pm). Blew nearly every potted plant off our deck & cleaned out all the dead pine needles from the shore pine.

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  3. Can't help but notice the conspicuous lack of rain. So much for drenching rains, huh? Dry as a bone here in Snohomish all day.

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  4. Hi from Winthrop. This is a welcome weather change but so far the rain has been pretty lame. Our rain gauge had about 0.5 mm (aka nearly nothing). Maybe its coming. Its not very windy here as we are sheltered in the valley. I haven't heard much about the east side fires but I'm hoping the wind isn't whipping them into monsters. At least the west side fires ought to be out. For the first time in a week we have breathable air-yea.

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  5. @Audrey, you should really consider purchasing his book then. Great source of Pac NW weather info. Also, when you have some time, consider reading through these: http://www.climate.washington.edu/stormking/mainindex.html

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  6. Surprised at how little actual rain we received today given the forecast, especially in Shoreline.

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  7. It's been a dramatic day in Mukilteo. Wind blown detritus every where, not safe for a long walk in the woods. Perfect on the hammock at the moment.

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  8. Pretty significant amount of tree and electrical infrastructure damage here in Kitsap County. At one point there were so many downed power lines that they stopped dispatching first responders to deal with them.

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  9. I like to think Senator Cantwell is a fan of the blog and follows.

    Thank you Ma'am

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  10. Here in Glacier (foot of Mt Baker) August was very quirky. Been here 40 years, and it was as-if the usual pattern was running a month early (if that makes any sense). Had 7 days with rain during the August with a couple up to a half-inch. What struck me were the cold nights - some as low as 42-44. Very strange year. I've been loving the storm. 'Last few days precipitation: Sat 1.4, Sun .7, Mon 1.7, Tues 2.1 ... still pouring. The USGS river gages down in the flatlands may be breaking records, cfs. More on the way - over four tenths of rain in three hours. Come on Godzilla, do your stuff.

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