gphafd
. This should bring spotty high wind to the coast and North interior today with wind advisories for Puget Sound. A second storm the remnants of a typhoon will move onshore late Saturday. The models are having a hard time pinning down the exact track of the surface low which is the critical detail. The best estimate and mostly likely scenario is a low around 970 millibars
will make landfall somewhere over the far North Coast late Saturday afternoon and then fill and move inland into Southern British Columbia during the evening. The should give high wind to most of the area with the strongest winds Saturday evening. Coastal flooding — the deep low Northwest of Cape Flattery today is generating a 20 to 25 foot Southwest swell along the WA coast. This will generate high surf along the WA coast through this evening. Computer models have converged on more of a Southwest Northeast track for the powerful low on Saturday, although the models still have small but critical differences in the exact track. At this point it looks like the Southwest Northeast track will spare most or all of the Central and Northern WA coast from large waves Saturday night. However, a slight Westward change in the track could expose the Central Coast around grays harbor to large waves. Flooding — the Skokomish river is currently flooding. A flood
Watch
is also up for Snohomish and Whatcom counties. See the hydrology section below for more details. Schneider . long-term — previous
discussion
— more typical October weather will prevail during the extended period. An upper trough should keep the area fairly wet Monday afternoon through Tuesday. Wednesday should be the driest day, as a dirty upper ridge moves through. The South end of a system moving into British Columbia could bring more rain on Thursday. Mcdonnal
haner
will move Northeast across Central Vancouver Island by early this afternoon, then move rapidly Northeast over Southern B. C. By late afternoon
. High end
Gales
are expected over most of the coastal and Northern interior waters through this afternoon. Combined seas 15 to 25 feet are expected. Here
is a loop of sea level pressure from the GFS through early Sunday morning. After a short lull in between storms tonight through Saturday morning, a powerful 971 millibars low is expected to move Northeast across the coastal waters, crossing Cape Flattery early Saturday evening
. This system has a good chance of producing storm force winds over much of the coastal and inland waters. The location and strength of the winds will tied to small changes in the the track of the low, which is still changing in the computer models. Kam
Puget Sound
—
Small Craft Advisory
for rough bar until 5 PM PDT Sunday for Grays Harbor bar. Storm
Watch
from Saturday afternoon through Saturday evening for coastal waters from Cape Flattery to James Island 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from Cape Flattery to James Island out 10 nautical mile coastal waters from James Island to point grenville 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from James Island to point grenville out 10 nautical mile coastal waters from point grenville to cape shoalwater 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from point grenville to cape shoalwater out 10 nautical mile West entrance U. S. Waters Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Small Craft Advisory
from 5 pm this afternoon to 11 PM PDT this evening for coastal waters from Cape Flattery to james island 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from Cape Flattery to James Island out 10 nautical mile coastal waters from James Island to point grenville 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from james island to point grenville out 10 nautical mile coastal waters from point grenville to cape shoalwater 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from point grenville to cape shoalwater out 10 nautical mile East entrance U. S. Waters Strait of Juan de Fuca Northern inland waters including the San Juan islands.
Gale Warning
until 5 PM PDT this afternoon for Admiralty Inlet coastal waters from Cape Flattery to James Island 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from Cape Flattery to James Island out 10 nautical mile coastal waters from James Island to point grenville 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from James Island to point grenville out 10 nautical mile coastal waters from point grenville to cape shoalwater 10 to 60 nautical mile coastal waters from point grenville to cape shoalwater out 10 nautical mile East entrance U. S. Waters Strait of Juan de Fuca Northern inland waters including the San Juan islands Puget Sound and Hood Canal. Storm
Watch
from Saturday afternoon through late Saturday night for Admiralty Inlet Central U. S. Waters Strait of Juan de fuca East entrance U. S. Waters Strait of Juan de Fuca Northern inland waters including the San Juan islands Puget Sound and Hood Canal.
Small Craft Advisory
from 3 pm this afternoon to 11 PM PDT this evening for West entrance U. S. Waters Strait of Juan de fuca.
Gale Warning
until 3 PM PDT this afternoon for West entrance U. S. Waters Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Small Craft Advisory
until 5 PM PDT this afternoon for Central U. S. Waters Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Small Craft Advisory
from 5 pm this afternoon to 2 AM PDT Saturday for Admiralty Inlet Puget Sound and Hood Canal.
A complete list of airport weather stations used for the METAR reporting system is at: http://adds.aviationweather.gov/metars/stations.txt . Regional airports weather station designations are at the bottom of this page.
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For Cloud levels (aka ceilings) in the untranslated discussion: Just add two zeros to the right to get the actual forecast cloud level in feet. So 030 is 3,000ft.
Acronyms
ACARS Aeronautical Radio Communications Addressing Reporting System
VFR Visual Flight Rules
Numerical Forecast Models Abbreviations
CMC Canadian Meteorological Centre
ECMWF European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts
GEM Global Environment Multiscale (CMC's short-range model)
GFDL Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory's Hurricane Model
GFS Global Forecast System (formerly known as the AVN and MRF)
MM5 Penn State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research's Mesoscale Model
NAM North American Mesoscale (formerly known as the Eta)
NGM Nested Grid Model
NOGAPS Navy Operational Global Atmospheric Prediction System
RUC Rapid Update Cycle Forecast Model
SREF Short Range Ensemble Forecasts
UKMET United Kingdom Meteorological Office
Washington Airports and other NWS stations
elevations in meters
N W elev
WA ARLINGTON MUNI KAWO 48 10N 122 10W 42
WA BELLINGHAM KBLI 48 48N 122 32W 50
WA WHATCOM (BLI) KHUH 48 57N 122 35W 26
WA BREMERTON NTNL KPWT 47 30N 122 45W 147
WA BURLINGTON/MT V KBVS 48 28N 122 25W 43
WA CHEHALIS CENTRAL KCLS 46 41N 122 59W 54
WA COLVILLE MUNICIP KCQV 48 32N 117 52W 572
WA DEER PARK KDEW 47 58N 117 26W 668
WA EASTSOUND/ORCAS KORS 48 42N 122 54W 8
WA ELLENSBURG KELN 47 02N 120 32W 519
WA EPHRATA KEPH 47 18N 119 31W 383
WA EVERETT KPAE 47 55N 122 17W 180
WA FAIRCHILD AFB KSKA 47 37N 117 39W 750
WA FORT LEWIS/GRAY KGRF 47 04N 122 34W 92
WA FRIDAY HARBOR KFHR 48 31N 123 02W 32
WA HANFORD KHMS 46 34N 119 35W 223
WA HOQUIAM KHQM 46 58N 123 56W 7
WA KELSO LONGVEIW KKLS 46 07N 122 54W 5
WA MOSES LAKE KMWH 47 12N 119 19W 362
WA OAK HARBOR AIRPA K76S 48 15N 122 40W 58
WA OLYMPIA KOLM 46 58N 122 54W 58
WA OMAK KOMK 48 28N 119 31W 395
WA PASCO KPSC 46 16N 119 07W 121
WA PORT ANGELES KCLM 48 07N 123 30W 85
WA PULLMAN/MOSCOW KPUW 46 45N 117 07W 773
WA PUYALLOP/THUN KPLU 47 06N 122 17W 164
WA QUILLAYUTE KUIL 47 56N 124 33W 54
WA RENTON KRNT 47 30N 122 13W 21
WA SEATTLE/BOEING KBFI 47 33N 122 19W 4
WA SEATTLE/METRO KSEA 47 27N 122 19W 136
WA SEATTLE/WFO KSEW 47 27N 122 18W 130
WA SEATTLE/ARTCC KZSE 47 17N 122 11W 99
WA SEATTLE/CAMANO I KATX 48 12N 122 30W 151
WA SHELTON KSHN 47 14N 123 08W 82
WA SPOKANE KOTX 47 41N 117 38W 727
WA SPOKANE/FELTS KSFF 47 41N 117 19W 609
WA SPOKANE/METRO KGEG 47 37N 117 32W 735
WA STAMPEDE PASS KSMP 47 17N 121 20W 1208
WA TACOMA KTIW 47 16N 122 35W 89
WA TACOMA/MC CHORD KTCM 47 07N 122 28W 98
WA TATOOSH/VOR KTOU 48 18N 124 38W 520
WA TOLEDO WINLOCK M KTDO 46 28N 122 47W 113
WA VANCOUVER KVUO 45 37N 122 39W 8
WA WALLA WALLA KALW 46 06N 118 17W 363
WA WENATCHEE KEAT 47 24N 120 12W 377
WA WHIDBEY IS. NAS KNUW 48 21N 122 39W 14
WA YAKIMA KYKM 46 34N 120 32W 324
WA BURLINGTON/MT V K75S 48 28N 122 25W 43
WA COLVILLE K63S 48 32N 117 52W 571
WA DEER PARK K07S 47 58N 117 26W 668
WA DESTRUCTION ISL 47 40N 124 31W 21
WA PORT ANGELES CG KNOW 48 08N 123 25W 4
WA SMITH ISLAND 48 19N 122 10W 15
WA PEARSON/VANCOUVR K60S 45 37N 122 39W 8
WA WEST POINT (LS) 47 40N 122 34W 3
BC ABBOTSFORD AIRPO CYXX 49 01N 122 22W 58
BC AGASSIZ (AUTO) CWZA 49 15N 121 46W 15
BC ENTRANCE IL AUTO CWEL 49 13N 123 47W 5
BC ESQUIMALT METOC CWPF 48 25N 123 25W 12
BC HOPE AIRPORT (MA CYHE 49 22N 121 28W 39
BC HOPE SLIDE CWKV 49 16N 121 13W 674
BC KELP REEFS CWZO 48 33N 123 14W 1
BC MALAHAT (AUTOB) CWKH 48 34N 123 34W 366
BC MERRY ISLAND CWMR 49 28N 123 55W 8
BC MT SICKER RADAR CXSI 48 51N 123 45W 1
BC NANAIMO AIRPORT CYCD 49 02N 123 52W 28
BC P. MEADOWS CS AU CWMM 49 12N 122 40W 5
BC RACE ROCKS AUTOB CWQK 48 17N 123 31W 5
BC SAND headS (LS) CWVF 49 06N 123 18W 1
BC SATURNA ISL (MAP CWEZ 48 46N 123 02W 7
BC SHERINGHAM AUTOB CWSP 48 22N 123 55W 21
BC SQUAMISH (AUTOB) CWSK 49 46N 123 10W 60
BC VANCOUVER (AUTOB CWHC 49 17N 123 07W 2
BC VANCOUVER INTL A CYVR 49 10N 123 10W 2
BC VIC. HARTLAND AU CWVV 48 31N 123 28W 49
BC VICTORIA (AUTOB) CWLM 48 25N 123 19W 70
BC VICTORIA HARBOUR CYWH 48 25N 123 23W 10
BC VICTORIA INTL AR CYYJ 48 38N 123 25W 19
BC VICTORIA UNIV CWYJ 48 28N 123 18W 39
BC W VANCOUVER AUTO CWWA 49 21N 123 10W 178
BC WHITE ROCK AUTOB CWWK 49 01N 122 46W 15