Just checked the conditions off the Nothern tip of Vancouver Island Temperature7°C Pressure 99.7kPa Wave Height 13.5m Wave Period 16sec Sea Temp. 8°C Wind W 34 knots The waves are at 45 feet - 16 seconds apart - anyone up for surfing. The real storm is due this evening so we will have to see what that brings.
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Puget Sound forcast Wind Waves 4 to 7 feet
Seattle NOAA forcast http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/west/sewmz.htm For Puget Sound and Hood Canal: (http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/coastal/pz/pzz135.txt) THU NIGHT (Dec 14) S WIND 25 TO 35 KT...BECOMING SW AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 4 TO 7 FT. *yks RAIN. :{ FRI SW WIND 20 TO 30 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FT. FRI NIGHT SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. Checked the dock lines on the boat this evening and everything is okay.
Seattle NOAA forcast http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/zone/west/sewmz.htm For Puget Sound and Hood Canal: (http://weather.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/fmtbltn.pl?file=forecasts/marine/coastal/pz/pzz135.txt) THU NIGHT (Dec 14) S WIND 25 TO 35 KT...BECOMING SW AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 4 TO 7 FT. *yks RAIN. :{ FRI SW WIND 20 TO 30 KT...EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT...SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FT. FRI NIGHT SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT. Checked the dock lines on the boat this evening and everything is okay.
Weatherman...
Rich, what's the website you pulled that surface chart off of? Inquiring minds want to know...
Rich, what's the website you pulled that surface chart off of? Inquiring minds want to know...
website
In response to previous poster here's the link to the HPC web site. You can dig around there and find synoptic charts for the past 24 hours. A few moons ago I used to do a similar analysis for the Pacific...hand plotted and analysed. That was before current techniques and h/w & s/w. Although I think there's still a human placing things like fronts.... amf
In response to previous poster here's the link to the HPC web site. You can dig around there and find synoptic charts for the past 24 hours. A few moons ago I used to do a similar analysis for the Pacific...hand plotted and analysed. That was before current techniques and h/w & s/w. Although I think there's still a human placing things like fronts.... amf
Forcast Getting Worse
Our area forcast for seas within Puget Sound has increased to the 7 to 9ft range - not good for most marinas with some fetch from the south. Sure wouldn't want to be on the "outside"! Thanks for your link, rich. Went trolling around and came up with a bunch of links that might be useful for boaters at this NOAA web site: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/home.htm#graphic The NOAA page could take an idea from commercial marketers and have a section that says "other visitors have found these web pages useful" followed by a listing. This information is great when you're at home on a high-speed Internet and can download info in a timely manner but once you're out on the boat and want info it becomes more difficult and expensive but that's when you really need it.
Our area forcast for seas within Puget Sound has increased to the 7 to 9ft range - not good for most marinas with some fetch from the south. Sure wouldn't want to be on the "outside"! Thanks for your link, rich. Went trolling around and came up with a bunch of links that might be useful for boaters at this NOAA web site: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/home.htm#graphic The NOAA page could take an idea from commercial marketers and have a section that says "other visitors have found these web pages useful" followed by a listing. This information is great when you're at home on a high-speed Internet and can download info in a timely manner but once you're out on the boat and want info it becomes more difficult and expensive but that's when you really need it.
It's on the way!
The attached site is the combined plot of wind speed and barometric pressure for the Tatoosh I. weather station. Tatoosh Island is just off Cape Flattery and is about 90 miles mostly west of us. Wind gusts a couple of days ago hit 79 knots. The barometric pressure is in a screaming free fall and winds are once again up in the fifty to sixty knot range. Should be here in a few hours.
Gary Wyngarden S/V Wanderlust h37.5 (Hunkered down with doubled dock lines) P.S. The wave forecast for the bar at Gray's Harbor tonight is to top out at 37 feet. Ouch!
The attached site is the combined plot of wind speed and barometric pressure for the Tatoosh I. weather station. Tatoosh Island is just off Cape Flattery and is about 90 miles mostly west of us. Wind gusts a couple of days ago hit 79 knots. The barometric pressure is in a screaming free fall and winds are once again up in the fifty to sixty knot range. Should be here in a few hours.
Gary Wyngarden S/V Wanderlust h37.5 (Hunkered down with doubled dock lines) P.S. The wave forecast for the bar at Gray's Harbor tonight is to top out at 37 feet. Ouch!Yikes!
My boat is double lined. I did it a few weeks ago before the prior storm. My bottom is starting to pucker as I look at the barometer at Smith Island (Puget Sound). It has dropped much lower than the previous. Wish I could click my heels three times & be at the boat to go over my mooring lines etc. again. you know, Just to be sure... *pop *butt
My boat is double lined. I did it a few weeks ago before the prior storm. My bottom is starting to pucker as I look at the barometer at Smith Island (Puget Sound). It has dropped much lower than the previous. Wish I could click my heels three times & be at the boat to go over my mooring lines etc. again. you know, Just to be sure... *pop *butt
Here's a link to a bunch of sattelites
Funny, I just talked to a friend in Vancouver and they have lots of wind. Here on Gabriola Island (Gulf Islands west across the Strait of Georgia from Vancouver) we're flat calm, at least for now. The link below gives satellite and radar images for the whole world.
Funny, I just talked to a friend in Vancouver and they have lots of wind. Here on Gabriola Island (Gulf Islands west across the Strait of Georgia from Vancouver) we're flat calm, at least for now. The link below gives satellite and radar images for the whole world.
forecast it yourself
For you folks who've recently been clobbered by the rapidly moving, deep low pressure center which came ashore within the last 24 hours in the Pacific Northwest, here's a way to anticipate such things. If you have a relatively high speed internet connection, you can access weather prediction movies. You'll need a fundamental understanding of how to read a weather chart. The link provided accesses one of NOAA's models. More questions? Let me know. wxman rich
For you folks who've recently been clobbered by the rapidly moving, deep low pressure center which came ashore within the last 24 hours in the Pacific Northwest, here's a way to anticipate such things. If you have a relatively high speed internet connection, you can access weather prediction movies. You'll need a fundamental understanding of how to read a weather chart. The link provided accesses one of NOAA's models. More questions? Let me know. wxman rich
for John in Poulsboro
John I understand...you need the wx underway and vhf just don't cut it. Folks like me who can go out on Chesapeake and never be far from land are in a better situation than those who get more than a couple of hours from land. There are still wxfax services available, which may be copied given the correct equipment underway. I'd have to research if they're still available via hf. rich
John I understand...you need the wx underway and vhf just don't cut it. Folks like me who can go out on Chesapeake and never be far from land are in a better situation than those who get more than a couple of hours from land. There are still wxfax services available, which may be copied given the correct equipment underway. I'd have to research if they're still available via hf. rich
The storm was a BIG one!
The news reports this morning say that about 1.5 million homes are without power this morning - that's an indicator of what happened. Puget Power had about 3/4ths of their customers without power in a 9 county region. Wind speeds got up in the 70mph range at several places so that combined with soggy soil, tall fir trees, and powerlines makes for a good power outage situation. Not to mention trees falling on structures like homes. There were periods of extreemly heavy rain with spells of no rain and the lightning was awsome. at 11PM we drove across the Narrows Bridge with winds that were reported at 46 mph earlier and the WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) closes the bridge at 50 mph so we just made it home. Basically all the power was off from between Bremerton, Silverdale, and Poulsbo. Only a very small area where we live had power, probably because the power lines are under ground instead of on power poles. Last night a guy made a cell phone report to the local radio station of their approach and "landing" to SeaTac and he said it was really hairy with severe turbulence below 20,000 feet. He said if they didn't have their seat belts on they would have been flying inside the cabin. People were screaming and kids and babies were crying. He said the landing was the worst he ever had and he's flown a lot. The report this morning was about one marina in Tacoma that was hard hit with a number of boats being sunk or destroyed. The news crews have apparently had a hard time getting around the Sound to gather information due to road and bridge closures, not to mention traffic snarles this morning. Many people are taking alternate routes due to their normal roads being closed. Last night our marina seemed okay but will have to check on it this morning. The tide wasn't that high so that would help to reduce the fetch somewhat, but probably not enough to matter. Neat picture of a tugboat from KXLY news: http://www.kxly.com/news/?sect_rank=1§ion_id=559&story_id=6995
The news reports this morning say that about 1.5 million homes are without power this morning - that's an indicator of what happened. Puget Power had about 3/4ths of their customers without power in a 9 county region. Wind speeds got up in the 70mph range at several places so that combined with soggy soil, tall fir trees, and powerlines makes for a good power outage situation. Not to mention trees falling on structures like homes. There were periods of extreemly heavy rain with spells of no rain and the lightning was awsome. at 11PM we drove across the Narrows Bridge with winds that were reported at 46 mph earlier and the WSDOT (Washington State Department of Transportation) closes the bridge at 50 mph so we just made it home. Basically all the power was off from between Bremerton, Silverdale, and Poulsbo. Only a very small area where we live had power, probably because the power lines are under ground instead of on power poles. Last night a guy made a cell phone report to the local radio station of their approach and "landing" to SeaTac and he said it was really hairy with severe turbulence below 20,000 feet. He said if they didn't have their seat belts on they would have been flying inside the cabin. People were screaming and kids and babies were crying. He said the landing was the worst he ever had and he's flown a lot. The report this morning was about one marina in Tacoma that was hard hit with a number of boats being sunk or destroyed. The news crews have apparently had a hard time getting around the Sound to gather information due to road and bridge closures, not to mention traffic snarles this morning. Many people are taking alternate routes due to their normal roads being closed. Last night our marina seemed okay but will have to check on it this morning. The tide wasn't that high so that would help to reduce the fetch somewhat, but probably not enough to matter. Neat picture of a tugboat from KXLY news: http://www.kxly.com/news/?sect_rank=1§ion_id=559&story_id=6995
John, Warren and all the rest of you UP THERE
all the best, hope you're well and safe, Happy Holidays. Stu
all the best, hope you're well and safe, Happy Holidays. Stu
Hi Stu, and everybody!
We're going down! Glug-glug-glu-gl. Yeah, not many places with power and last night was frost. Now here's one for you. We live on a country road with trees that are much taller than the power lines. Definition; lots of power outages. We've had 5 outages this fall and winter doesn't start until next week. The morning before the storm hit, at O-dark:30, our power went out. It was flat calm out with no rain. Somebody must have crashed into a power pole. Anyway, our automatic generator came to life and all was normal except no DSL. DRAT! The power stayed OUT until dark. No known reason. Then it came on. Then the storm hit. The LIGHTS DIDN'T EVEN FLICKER! Everyone to the west of us has their generators running. They won't have power for a week. Go figure! *o
We're going down! Glug-glug-glu-gl. Yeah, not many places with power and last night was frost. Now here's one for you. We live on a country road with trees that are much taller than the power lines. Definition; lots of power outages. We've had 5 outages this fall and winter doesn't start until next week. The morning before the storm hit, at O-dark:30, our power went out. It was flat calm out with no rain. Somebody must have crashed into a power pole. Anyway, our automatic generator came to life and all was normal except no DSL. DRAT! The power stayed OUT until dark. No known reason. Then it came on. Then the storm hit. The LIGHTS DIDN'T EVEN FLICKER! Everyone to the west of us has their generators running. They won't have power for a week. Go figure! *o
Many Areas Sill Without Power
Went over to Seattle yesterday and the ferry ride was uneventual as the winds had really calmed down. There was a 30-something ft sailboat going up the main chanel under power that crossed our bow. On the trip to the Bainbridge ferry terminal we saw many, many trees that were down, large broken limbs, etc. There was one section of powerlines which had several trees across them and about a half-dozen poles were leaning caddywhumpus - going to take some time to fix this section. There's one thing about Puget Sound - we like our trees. There were numerous traffic lights that were out and people not obeying the "rules of the road" - i.e., not waiting their turn to cross the intersection and I had one person who didn't even stop just as we had started to cross the intersection! Had to do an emergency stop to not getting T-boned. On the return trip around 11 PM there were still huge sections of the skyline without power. Most of Bainbridge Island (Phil Herrings digs) was black and oddly only one traffic light in the whole place was working. Imagine a ferry load of vehicles coming to a dark intersection and each one having to stop before continuing. Surprisingly, though, it didn't take all that much longer. Seattle with it's heavy urban development had a number of areas with mud slides, many of which flowed across sidewalks and into traffic lanes. There were lots of slides below Queen Anne Hill, an expensive neighborhood near the city center. One doesn't clear a forest and construct impervious surfaces without ramnifications of this kind. Traveling down the highway at night with the intersection lights out makes it very hard to see where the intersection is. Some of the signs that indicated there was an intersection ahead were blown down so in some cases it took some local knowledge to know where to stop. Whidby Island was totally without power. Apparently the main trunk line from Anacortes which goes across Deception Pass blew out. Picture link: http://www2.whidbey.net/nboynton/dcptnpas.htm More bad news, especially for those ~700,000 still without power, is the low temperatures are expected to drop down into the 20sºF for the next couple days. Sooo, without heat, one might expect some freezing pipes. Semiahmoo and Poulsbo YC Marinas had no wind damage problems which is good. Over all, the marinas seemed to have faired very well compared to the '93 Inagural Day Storm. The railroad from Olympia to Portland had lots of downed trees across the tracks so it'll be a while before it's up and running. My UPS battery backup/power conditioner system finally has it's battery up to full charge which is good. Even though our power was off for only about 5 hours, for some reason, it took quite a while for it to top off its battery. Fred - I can imagine you guys have a lot of tree branches scattered across the roads over there. wxman Rich - Thanks for the link and info on your other posts. I've got my Active-X turned off so it doesn't work BUT I'll save the link and give it a try later. You said "if we have questions to let you know...", well, do you have a high-speed Internet??? I think that understanding weather and being able to take the data available and convert it into useful decision-making information is right up there with being able to know how to sail, especially when going "out there" or up north where good anchorages, marinas, and help can be few and far between.
Went over to Seattle yesterday and the ferry ride was uneventual as the winds had really calmed down. There was a 30-something ft sailboat going up the main chanel under power that crossed our bow. On the trip to the Bainbridge ferry terminal we saw many, many trees that were down, large broken limbs, etc. There was one section of powerlines which had several trees across them and about a half-dozen poles were leaning caddywhumpus - going to take some time to fix this section. There's one thing about Puget Sound - we like our trees. There were numerous traffic lights that were out and people not obeying the "rules of the road" - i.e., not waiting their turn to cross the intersection and I had one person who didn't even stop just as we had started to cross the intersection! Had to do an emergency stop to not getting T-boned. On the return trip around 11 PM there were still huge sections of the skyline without power. Most of Bainbridge Island (Phil Herrings digs) was black and oddly only one traffic light in the whole place was working. Imagine a ferry load of vehicles coming to a dark intersection and each one having to stop before continuing. Surprisingly, though, it didn't take all that much longer. Seattle with it's heavy urban development had a number of areas with mud slides, many of which flowed across sidewalks and into traffic lanes. There were lots of slides below Queen Anne Hill, an expensive neighborhood near the city center. One doesn't clear a forest and construct impervious surfaces without ramnifications of this kind. Traveling down the highway at night with the intersection lights out makes it very hard to see where the intersection is. Some of the signs that indicated there was an intersection ahead were blown down so in some cases it took some local knowledge to know where to stop. Whidby Island was totally without power. Apparently the main trunk line from Anacortes which goes across Deception Pass blew out. Picture link: http://www2.whidbey.net/nboynton/dcptnpas.htm More bad news, especially for those ~700,000 still without power, is the low temperatures are expected to drop down into the 20sºF for the next couple days. Sooo, without heat, one might expect some freezing pipes. Semiahmoo and Poulsbo YC Marinas had no wind damage problems which is good. Over all, the marinas seemed to have faired very well compared to the '93 Inagural Day Storm. The railroad from Olympia to Portland had lots of downed trees across the tracks so it'll be a while before it's up and running. My UPS battery backup/power conditioner system finally has it's battery up to full charge which is good. Even though our power was off for only about 5 hours, for some reason, it took quite a while for it to top off its battery. Fred - I can imagine you guys have a lot of tree branches scattered across the roads over there. wxman Rich - Thanks for the link and info on your other posts. I've got my Active-X turned off so it doesn't work BUT I'll save the link and give it a try later. You said "if we have questions to let you know...", well, do you have a high-speed Internet??? I think that understanding weather and being able to take the data available and convert it into useful decision-making information is right up there with being able to know how to sail, especially when going "out there" or up north where good anchorages, marinas, and help can be few and far between.
John,
"Fred - I can imagine you guys have a lot of tree branches scattered across the roads over there." John, I found a couple of branches on our driveway. Nothing different than any other storm. As far as roads? Not me! I'm staying right here. The boat is fine too.
"Fred - I can imagine you guys have a lot of tree branches scattered across the roads over there." John, I found a couple of branches on our driveway. Nothing different than any other storm. As far as roads? Not me! I'm staying right here. The boat is fine too.
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