Windy in the PNW

This is going to be fun. Extra lines on the boat.

.GALE WARNING TODAY...

...STORM WARNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT...
Synopsis: A broad area of low pres will remain over the Gulf of Alaska. A series of strong fronts will move across the waters this week. The next front will push into the region tonight, then inland early Tue. Another front will arrive later Wed night into Thu.

Today
S wind 15 to 25 kt this am, then winds increasing to 25 to 35 kt. Later this afternoon, S wind becoming 30 to 35 kt, with gusts to 50 kt. Combined seas 22 to 25 ft with dominant period of 19 seconds. Scattered showers. Rain later today.

Tonight
S wind 35 to 45 kt, with gusts to 55 kt, becoming SW 25 to 35 kt after midnight. Combined seas 25 to 30 ft with a dominant period of 16 seconds, subsiding to 25 ft after midnight. Rain.

Tue
SW wind 25 to 30 kt. Gusts to 45 kt early. Combined seas 23 to 27 ft with a dominant period of 14 seconds in the morning, then subsiding to around 20 ft. Rain in the morning, then showers likely.

Tue Night
SW wind 20 to 25 kt. Wind waves SW 6 ft at 8 seconds. W swell 20 ft at 13 seconds. Chance of showers.

Wed
SW wind 10 kt, becoming SE 20 to 25 kt in the afternoon. Wind waves SW 3 ft at 4 seconds. W swell 22 ft at 14 seconds. rain likely.
ThuS wind 35 to 40 kt in the morning, then SW 20 to 25 kt. combined seas 20 to 25 ft.

Fri
SE wind 10 to 15 kt. Wind waves 3 ft. NW swell 15 ft.

This was last Friday nights ferry run between Kingston and Edmonds. Glad we’re on the other coast this time of year.

Weellll, not such a big deal after all. Crossed from Everett to Kingston last Friday during a small craft advisory about 1100 to find 10 knots SSE wind, 6" wind chop. Returned Kingston to Everett on Sunday at 0945 despite the gale warning into a roaring 6 knots, building to 12 knots SE wind, 12" wind chop. No spray on the windshield either day.

Local Salish Sea weather is VERY location specific, and timing is everything. Taking advantage of land masses to provide a lee, altering course as appropriate to minimize vessel motion, turn up the heater, enjoy!

By the way, the Kingston Marina lights are fantastic! Kudos to the City and Port of Kingston for providing such a nice vista during Christmas.

Regards,

Pete

Larry M said:

This was last Friday nights ferry run between Kingston and Edmonds. Glad we’re on the other coast this time of year.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1073801576890851328

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That's not even the route with the Worst seas. The Keystone ferry just north gets completely insane sometimes.

Tom.....Blowing very hard in Bellingham presently. Seems like a continuum of these big southerly wind storms. A friend of mine was intending to launch via Travelift but all concerned decided that was a bad idea.

We have a couple of container ships hanging out in Port Angeles. I suspect the weather is the reason. One of them is an Alaska run regular, and the other is BIG. Take a look at the winds/waves offshore with Windy...

IRENE said:

We have a couple of container ships hanging out in Port Angeles. I suspect the weather is the reason. One of them is an Alaska run regular, and the other is BIG. Take a look at the winds/waves offshore with Windy...

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WOW! I tried to do a screen print to post here, no luck....

IRENE said:

We have a couple of container ships hanging out in Port Angeles. I suspect the weather is the reason. One of them is an Alaska run regular, and the other is BIG. Take a look at the winds/waves offshore with Windy...

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Yeah...ouch. Looks like 20 foot wind waves on top of 10 foot swell? I have never seen such a thing.
No thanks.

Cape Elizabeth, Columbia Bar, and Tillamook buoys are all confirming what is on Windy.
Tillamook has 23 footers on 9 second intervals as shown on the buoy pictured below. Not pleasant thinking about waves of that size on that short interval.

Here ya go Tom, Current time 17:45 today! 20ft swells at 16 seconds.

Looks like it will calm down a bit until Thursday, about the same as above then.

Well the wind was a non-starter for us. We are 50 miles inland. Lots of rain, possible flooding.

Tom....Do you get strong easterly outflow winds coming from Hood River and farther up the Columbia?

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

This is going to be fun. Extra lines on the boat.



.GALE WARNING TODAY...



...STORM WARNING LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT...

Synopsis: A broad area of low pres will remain over the Gulf of Alaska. A series of strong fronts will move across the waters this week. The next front will push into the region tonight, then inland early Tue. Another front will arrive later Wed night into Thu.

Click to expand...

Tell me about it. We are waiting for a window to jump up to Victoria from Seattle for the holidays. Looks like we may be able to at least get to port townsend on Saturday and look for the next window early next week.

A tornado just ripped the roof off a house in Port Orchard! Yea, that's windy!

And more to come! Weather service says next storm starts tomorrow late into Thursday. Its been one blow after another. Plenty rain as well. I should have waited 6 months before putting my boat outside! Idiot!

Just reading a tornado hit near Port Orchard today, did some damage. Its been wild and wooly around here for sure!

Ken E. said:

Tom....Do you get strong easterly outflow winds coming from Hood River and farther up the Columbia?

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Our winter wind pattern are SE winds so we don't get the strong winds out of the Gorge.

Some friends in Squalicum Marina (Port of Bellingham) measured gusts of 70 kts. Many shredded roller furling headsails. [emoji24][emoji572][emoji924]

Ken E. said:

Tom....Do you get strong easterly outflow winds coming from Hood River and farther up the Columbia?

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Ken, we're at mile 325 on the Columbia in the TriCities and our winds come from the SW. We get a lot of wind in our area and much of it comes from the Columbia Gorge area where Hood River and The Dalles are.

GFC said:

Ken, we're at mile 325 on the Columbia in the TriCities and our winds come from the SW. We get a lot of wind in our area and much of it comes from the Columbia Gorge area where Hood River and The Dalles are.

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I've been to Hood River when the wind has been howling, which explains why wind surfing is so popular there.

Have you and Tina given any thought to joining Tom and Kay on their next trip to SE AK?

Not in the PNW at the moment, but must have brought the wind with me. A bit sporty here off the coast of San Diego as well.

I was talking to a professional captain that moves boats. When the approaching storm came up he just smiled and said, ‘well it is that time of year.’ After a summer and fall of great weather it was a rude awakening that it is winter.

Ken E. said:

I've been to Hood River when the wind has been howling, which explains why wind surfing is so popular there.

Have you and Tina given any thought to joining Tom and Kay on their next trip to SE AK?

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Ken, we would love to do that but our timing is not yet set. Our "year of departure" depends entirely on my 103 year old mother-in-law. We don't want to be somewhere up in the boontoolies out of radio and cell range and have something happen to her. Tina would never forgive herself if that happened, and I wouldn't forgive myself.

She's in pretty good health but we can see that her health is declining. We're enjoying having her around so much that we don't want to lose her.

I have a rough itinerary planned for the summer after she passes and it will include waters from the Tacoma/Olympia area up about as far north as Campbell River. It will be from about mid-June until some time near the end of September or mid-October, depending on when the storms start rolling in.

I get almost as much enjoyment out of planning a trip like this as I do taking it. I've had a TON of fun doing the planning.

Just to show you that the Columbia is not always rough, here's a video I shot when we were coming up from Portland in October.....

GFC said:

Ken, we would love to do that but our timing is not yet set. Our "year of departure" depends entirely on my 103 year old mother-in-law. We don't want to be somewhere up in the boontoolies out of radio and cell range and have something happen to her. Tina would never forgive herself if that happened, and I wouldn't forgive myself.

She's in pretty good health but we can see that her health is declining. We're enjoying having her around so much that we don't want to lose her.

I have a rough itinerary planned for the summer after she passes and it will include waters from the Tacoma/Olympia area up about as far north as Campbell River. It will be from about mid-June until some time near the end of September or mid-October, depending on when the storms start rolling in.

I get almost as much enjoyment out of planning a trip like this as I do taking it. I've had a TON of fun doing the planning.

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I hope we run into you....

Figuratively speaking, I hope. We don't know if that trip will be next summer or when. The downside to when we take it means my MIL passed away, so we're not in a hurry to take it.