Friday, 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.

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