Rain, Winds and Tides

The NWS just updated their discussion with information from the 3:00 model run.  There is some interesting stuff in it.....  Especially good news for Pluviophiles... (Rain Lovers)  We are settling into about 24 hours of an "Atmospheric River" that is being fed with moisture from just north of Hawaii...  Rainfall amounts will be impressive.  This afternoon was the appetizer....  Hourly rainfall rates have been running about .25 to .5 inches per hour off the coast.  One to two inches of rain between now and tomorrow afternoon here is not out of the question...  But wait...  There's more....  The wind has been screaming all around us.  There has not been a Port Townsend ferry run today.  All runs have been cancelled due to high winds...  Yet we have not been affected.  This is due to the Olympic Wind Shadow...  It is coming from just the right direction so we can hide behind the Olympics.  This could change at any time though...  A little tweak in direction and we will have some wind.... As if this isn't interesting enough, the barometer is dropping like a rock and tomorrow morning at 9:13 we will have an 11.14' high tide.  A low barometer and high "king" tides are a bad combination.  Right now the barometer is at 29.51" or 1000mb and falling rapidly.  At this rate, the actual tide will be at or above the 12 foot level.  The NWS has issued a coastal flood advisory for the San Juans and Bellingham area.  Something worth watching...  On my site I have a tidal adjustment number that shows the impact of barometric pressure on the tides.  Right now the tides are 5" higher than predicted.

This graph shows how fast the barometer is dropping....

Typically, the wind begins when the barometer starts going up.... It could be a long 24 hours...