Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Seattle/Tacoma, WA
Issued by NWS Seattle/Tacoma, WA
571 FXUS66 KSEW 112209 AFDSEW Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Seattle WA 309 PM PDT Tue Jun 11 2024 .SYNOPSIS...Onshore flow will continue for the next several days. A weak ridge will result in some slight warming on Thursday but the next weather system will push through the region Friday into Saturday bringing cooler conditions and good chances for precipitation. Thunderstorms will be possible across western Washington Saturday afternoon and evening. Active weather will continue into next week. && .SHORT TERM /TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY/...A weakening frontal system pushed through western Washington this morning and brought some brief precipitation with it. Breezy conditions persist in the wake of this system but otherwise little additional impact is expected. Zonal flow will become very weak ridging from Wednesday into Thursday keeping flow onshore and temperatures mild. Temperatures will reach the mid-60s to around 70 Wednesday and the upper 60s to low 70s on Thursday. .LONG TERM /FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY/...Things get more interesting in the long term as a low from the Gulf of Alaska shifts southeast off the southern BC coast on Friday. At least an initial frontal system associated with this feature is expected to push across western Washington during the day Friday. This will bring with it widespread chances for rain/shower activity. Confidence begins to fall off a cliff by Saturday with ensemble members and deterministic models diverging significantly on the evolution of the low. One end of the spectrum has this feature splitting into two with part of the system shifting east of the area fairly quickly and a second part remaining offshore and deepening before coming on shore early next week. Meanwhile, others have a slower and slightly more cohesive system moving across the region over the weekend. Based on cluster analysis, the latter appears to be the more likely scenario, but even that comes in differening flavors of timing, trough depth, etc. These details will be important as a somewhere lies a scenario with unstable post-frontal conditions and cool upper level temperatures aloft on Saturday. That scenario could bring us a decent (for western Washington) chance of thunderstorm activity Saturday afternoon and evening, particularly associated with the development of a convergence zone. At this point in time, the NBM is highlighting upwards of a 25-30% chance of thunderstorms across the central Puget Sound and at least 15% elsewhere across western WA. The main threats with thunderstorm activity would be lightning, heavy rain, and erratic winds. With this uncertainty by Saturday, confidence in forecast for Sunday and beyond remains low at this time. The overall pattern suggests that the door will remain open of additional waves of activity through at least the first half of next week. -Wolcott- && .AVIATION...A shortwave trough will continue to move off to the east tonight. Flow aloft is westerly, becoming more northwesterly this evening. Conditions have generally improved to VFR across the majority of the TAF sites this afternoon in the wake of the frontal passage. Satellite shows clouds scattering across the interior this afternoon, except across portions of Snohomish and Skagit counties, where convergence has brought the development of additional cloud cover. This area of convergence does look to sink southward through this evening and into the overnight period and could bring ceilings down across portions of the central Sound at times. Winds remain breezy at the surface in the wake of the front, but will gradually ease across the region tonight. Conditions generally look to remain VFR into Wednesday, however latest NBM probabilistic guidance does show a 25 percent chance of 3000 ft cigs on Wednesday morning for areas across the central interior. KSEA...Ceilings remain VFR this afternoon. Weak convergence to the north could bring lower cigs into the terminal briefly this evening. Winds remain breezy out of the SW this afternoon, generally persisting at 15-20 kt with gusts to 25-30 kt at times. Winds will shift to the N between 00-03Z, decreasing to 8-12 kt tonight. Probabilistic NBM guidance showing a 25 percent chance of cigs reaching 3000 ft early Wednesday. 14 && .MARINE...Winds will remain breezy, but will gradually subside in the wake of a frontal passage this afternoon and evening. Observations show winds along the coastal waters have started to subside already this afternoon, but show small craft winds persisting along portions of the Puget Sound waters. With winds expected to gradually ease over the next 3 hours, have held off on an SCA issuance for now. Post-frontal westerlies in the central and eastern Strait have started to pick up this afternoon as well, where an SCA remains in effect through tonight. Occasional gusts to gale will be possible at times, though do not expect gusts to be frequent enough for a gale issuance. SCAs remain in effect for the coastal waters as seas have started to build towards 8-10 ft this afternoon and look to approach 9-13 ft by tonight. High pressure will build into the coastal waters in the wake of the front tonight into Wednesday and will bring overall calmer conditions to the area waters. Onshore flow will continue over the next several days, with multiple rounds of westerly pushes expected along the Strait. This could yield additional headlines at times. Another frontal system looks to move across the waters Friday into Saturday. Seas look to gradually subside back to 6-8 ft by Wednesday and look to generally persist within this range heading into the weekend. 14 && .SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WA...None. PZ...Small Craft Advisory until 2 AM PDT Wednesday for Central U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca-East Entrance U.S. Waters Strait Of Juan De Fuca. Small Craft Advisory until 5 AM PDT Wednesday for Coastal Waters From Cape Flattery To James Island Out 10 Nm-Coastal Waters From James Island To Point Grenville Out 10 Nm-Coastal Waters From Point Grenville To Cape Shoalwater Out 10 Nm. Small Craft Advisory until 8 AM PDT Wednesday for Coastal Waters From Cape Flattery To James Island 10 To 60 Nm-Coastal Waters From James Island To Point Grenville 10 To 60 Nm- Coastal Waters From Point Grenville To Cape Shoalwater 10 To 60 Nm. && $$