Friday, August 29, 2008

Davis Strait forecasting for 2008 begins!

Forecast for the Davis Strait Fri Aug 29 2008 16 UTC

Synopsis...A warm front will be moving into the region, marking the beginning of a period of unsettled weather over the next few days. Expect an increase in clouds and showers on Saturday, with periods of rain showers thereafter. Winds will be shifting to southeasterly (from the southeast) and gradually increasing from about 10 knots Saturday to 20 knots on Sunday. Air temperatures will range from as high as 6 deg C near the Greenland coast to as cool as 3 deg C near Baffin Island, with only little changes throughout the period.

Friday night and Saturday...Increasing clouds with rain showers likely, especially toward the west. Winds becoming southeast at 5-10 knots. Strongest winds southwest of the Davis Strait near the Hudson Strait.

Sunday...Mostly cloudy with periods of rain. Southeast winds increasing to over 20 knots in the central waters.

Monday....Periods of rain continuing. Southeast winds of 15-20 knots, especially in the central waters.

Outlook...Conditions may stay unsettled until midweek.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

A rainy Seattle August

If you thought it has been unusually wet this August in Seattle, you're right. In fact, so far, it is the 5th wettest August on record at Sea-tac airport. Here's a list of the rainiest August's on record:
  1. 4.59" in 1975
  2. 4.58" in 1968
  3. 3.59" in 1977
  4. 3.00" in 2004
  5. 2.86" in 2008 (through August 26th)
The average precipitation is 1.07" in August. The top chart shows that there is about a 50% chance Seattle will get 0.75" of rain in any given August. So although August is pretty dry, rainy days in August are not all that unheard of in general.

The bottom chart shows that Seatac only gets over 2.5" of rain in August a little less frequently than once every ten years. Seattle gets over 3" of rain in August once every 20 years.