Video: Upper level high pressure bakes California and The Gorge but big winds a-coming! by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com It is rare to have a single satellite video that shows so much weather action. In fact so much is happening today that it is easy to get lost. So first let’s freeze frame all the action and…
Upper level high pressure crushes the marine layer clouds by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com The San Francisco Bay Area and The Gorge are about to transition into to a hot weather pattern with a contraction of the wind zone to sites near the coast. Let’s take a look at what causes this by focusing on the…
Set to music of Dire Straits: “I want my NPH” by Mike Godsey, mike at iwindsurf.com The Gorge and the Bay Area are going through a unseasonal wet weak wind period. Normally after a cloudy period like this a burst of wind returns as the North Pacific High slams back to the west coast to reclaim…
Upper level shortwave upper trough brings weak winds to the Bay Area, Gorge and Southern California: What in the world does this geek speak mean? by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com Don’t you hate it when the forecast contains geek speak like “An upper level shortwave upper trough will increase the clouds and bring a chance of rain” Of course you don’t have to…
What happens to the North Pacific High when a storm targets the Bay Area: by Mike Godsey Today, Saturday June 22, we have a very unusual winter type storm system moving in from the NW. The storm system, which arrives Monday, consists of an upper trough at about 18,000 ft. and below it 2 surface lows each with counter-clockwise spinning winds….
Cut-Off Low Dies: After almost a week of SW flow just aloft the winds turn NW by Mike Godsey, mike@iwindsurf.com For many days the Bay Area has seen a combo of NW ocean surface winds and SW winds just aloft. NW surface winds typically curve and become more westerly as they come through the gaps in the Bay Area coast…
Where do Cut-Off Low go when they die? by Mike Godsey Every summer several Cut-Off Lows approach the west coast shaking up our forecasting of the California wind patterns. Then after a few days or even a week we suddenly stop mentioning the Cut-Off Low. The current Cut-Off Low was perfectly located to help funnel a combo of SW winds just…
For almost a week the Cut-Off Low you see in the imagery below has been spinning west to the Oregon/Washington border. This low has gridlocked the normal East to West movement of weather over west coast. But for the Bay Area is is perfectly located. The low itself is send SW flow aloft and marine layer clouds into…
Cut-Off Low usually have a bad rap but…… by Mike Godsey Cut-Off Lows form when a counter-clockwise spinning low pressure pinches off from passing upper troughs at around 18K feet. The winds at about 18K feet on the average are important in moving weather from west to east around the world. Once you have a Cut-Off Low to…
First the war stories then my analysis. by Mike Godsey Dmitry: “Madness increased beyond any measure as SFO shifted to 250degr and shot up to 39mph, but it became very bad on the water even 1hr before that. Peter A: “It was EXTREMELY gusty at 3rd. I was at the upper launch went out whitecaps…