Hi Michael, Welcome back to the sport! Skip to the bottom of this blog for the fast answer to your question. Background: 3rd. Ave. is one of the most complex places in the Bay Area to forecast. It is fed strong ocean WNW to NW wind from the San Bruno Gap and usually weaker W to…
In many places in the San Francisco Bay Area, wind forecasting is difficult. But the most frustrating place for meteorologists and customers is the winds between the San Mateo Bridge channel and the shoreline near the 3rd. Ave. shoreline. Windsurfers, kiters, wingers and kayakers call this area the zone between the 3rd. Ave. launch sites…
These e-mails, forum posts and images are good example of how I learn to improve my San Francisco Bay Area forecasts.
Two of the most useful tools in San Francisco Bay Area wind forecasting are satellite imagery and cam imagery. Unfortunately, using these tools effectively is partially an art. It requires years of practice and even then, you have the foreknowledge that the writing in the fog may change radically by the afternoon. These images and…
The San Francisco Bay Area winds are much more complex than Southern California or The Gorge. In the Gorge, the ocean winds sweep through a single gap in the Coast Range, following a single pressure gradient to the Columbia Basin. While Southern California ocean winds mostly blow along the coast or sweep over flat coastal…
This visual blog tells a bit of the story behind my 3rd. Ave. launch site forecast today: Note: I am going to stick to last night’s forecast below except to mention that the eddy is weaker and will impact Pt. Isabel and 3rd. Ave. less than I thought. Blog about 3rd. Ave. launch site winds…
Looking at all our sensors at 9:30 AM today from Bodega to Waddell and Crissy to Sherman Island, you might think that the forecast of strong NW ocean winds curving into the Bay was THC induced. The first image below seems to confirm that diagnosis But look at the satellite animation in the 2nd. image….
Hi S—–, Normally the surface air is much cooler than the air above the inversion so denser and relatively high-pressure. But subsiding air from the upper high-pressure is crushing the marine layer clouds so we have very warm air over the coast and just above the surface. Since the models only look at select elevations…
My forecast day got off to a great start. Waking up at 5AM, I had lots of time to work up a great San Francisco Bay Area forecast. This was earlier than my usual start time but a was excited since it was the first day of my Thursday-Sunday shift. There is just one major…