by Mike Godsey All you have to do is watch a dust devil or try to track a tornado and you figure out fast predicting the fate of a spinning body of air is very tricky. And such a prediction was my task today in forecasting the winds for the San Francisco Bay Area. If…
by Mike Godsey A customer asked: Lopez lake had one of its best days of the year with +20 from before 9am and still going at 6pm. Clearly it had a typical 30 degree thermal, like so many days lately, but what else made the difference? The fog pulled back many miles from the beach….
by Matt Souders & Mike Godsey At this point, you are probably wondering about the thick haze every morning that has plagued the Gorge and much of the Pacific Northwest. It barely has a hint of the typical brownish color of wildfire smoke nor does it have the smell of smoke. And unlike smoke, it…
by Mike Godsey Frequently I mention the winds at 1000 feet aloft (975 mb.) in my forecast which I am sure puzzles some of you. After all, your kite lines or mast extends mere feet into the atmosphere so why should you care about the winds 1000 feet aloft. Today it is very easy to…
by Mike Godsey, Ask any long-term windsurfer or kiter and they will tell you the Bay Area winds are changing. 3 basic wind patterns For many decades there were 3 basic wind patterns during the summer. The NW pattern with winds the North Pacific High being sucked through the W to NW facing gaps in…
by Mike Godsey, This was not supposed to happen. Today we were in a very clear eddy pattern with SW flow all day spoiling the 3rd Ave. winds. And with a huge eddy slated for tomorrow, there was not a chance that this eddy would die. And sure enough, by midmorning, anyone could see the…
by Mike Godsey & Matt Souders The all-time record-breaking heatwave for the Pacific Northwest and western Canada is winding at least from the Coast to Gorge. This event brought Portland Oregon to an unbelievable 116 degrees. And much further north Lytton, which is about 155 miles east of Vancouver, British Columbia, reached 121 on Tuesday….
By Matt Souders & Mike Godsey Look at the headlines below and the fawn seeking refuge at Mike’s house from the Pacific Northwest’s worst heat wave since the 19th century. How did we get here? Well, it starts with warming high in the atmosphere. The jet stream is a belt of fast west winds that…
by Mike Godsey The coastal San Francisco Bay Area has seen an abrupt end of an oppressive heat wave during the last 12 hours. This occurred first as a Marine Surge arrived for Southern California waters bringing strong southerly winds, cooler air yesterday and after dusk fog. Then this morning this pattern was reinforced by…