Wind Storm: AFTERMATH!

December 12, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Well, it appears we may have gotten away with one as long as a hill doesn’t slide away in the next day or so. The timing of the tides vs wind spared many a basements on the west side of the street.

Don’t tell this to Rudolph and Santa though. They were pretty blown away at the 50 knot gusts!

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Asked Mr. Menashe about how the Christmas village faired last night, blessed at just a few knock-downs and the toppling of the ornamental arch over the walk way. Not bad at all!

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Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

Filed Under: Beach Drive Homes, Holidays, Puget Sound, Weather

Barking Dog Report: HIGH WIND WATCH AND COASTAL FLOODING WATCH

December 9, 2014 by 3 Comments

Barking-Dog-ReportI’m crossing my fingers that the current forecasts I’m reading are exaggerating the predictions for Thursday. The coastal flooding is predicted to impact local high tides, causing a 14 ft on Wednesday morning around 8 am and a 14.5 ft on Thursday morning around 9 – 10 am.  Combine this with the high wind watch with possible gusts up to 65 mph and I smell trouble!

If you live on the water along Beach Drive, you might want to make sure you have pumps ready to go and take any actions needed to prepare for potential flooding. Be sure to continue to check the forecast as they do change…hopefully for the better!

Please share this information with your Beach Drive neighbors – they may not be aware of the pending storm.

National Weather Service

...COASTAL FLOOD ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM TO NOON PST
WEDNESDAY...
...COASTAL FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT
THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A COASTAL
FLOOD ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 4 AM TO NOON PST
WEDNESDAY. A COASTAL FLOOD WATCH HAS ALSO BEEN ISSUED. THIS
COASTAL FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT
THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

* IMPACTS...MINOR TIDAL OVERFLOW IS EXPECTED TO PRODUCE MINOR
  FLOODING IN LOW LYING AREAS AROUND THE INLAND WATERS AROUND HIGH
  TIDE ON WEDNESDAY. MORE SERIOUS AND EXTENSIVE COASTAL FLOODING
  IS POSSIBLE ON THURSDAY IF A DEEP LOW THAT IS SHOWN BY MANY
  FORECAST MODELS COMES IN AROUND HIGH TIDE. THIS DEEP LOW WOULD
  PRODUCE A 1 TO 2 FOOT STORM SURGE ON TOP OF PREDICTED TIDE
  VALUES AND WOULD BE COMBINED WITH WAVES DEVELOPED BY STRONG
  WINDS.

* TIME OF HIGH TIDE...ABOUT 8 AM PST WEDNESDAY AND 9-10 AM PST
  THURSDAY.

* PREDICTED TIDE...AT SEATTLE ABOUT 14 FEET ON WEDNESDAY AND
  POSSIBLY AROUND 14.5 FEET ON THURSDAY. MINOR TIDAL OVERFLOW AT
  SEATTLE NORMALLY BEGINS AROUND 13.5 FEET AND SERIOUS COASTAL
  FLOODING TYPICALLY BEGINS AT 14.5 FEET. TIDAL ANOMALIES ARE
  EXPECTED TO BE SIMILAR AT OTHER LOCATIONS BETWEEN OLYMPIA AND
  POINT ROBERTS ALONG THE SHORES OF THE INLAND WATERS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A COASTAL FLOOD ADVISORY INDICATES THAT ONSHORE WINDS AND TIDES
WILL COMBINE TO GENERATE FLOODING OF LOW AREAS ALONG THE SHORE.

A COASTAL FLOOD WATCH MEANS FLOODING OR BEACH EROSION WILL OCCUR
IF WEATHER CONDITIONS DEVELOP AS PREDICTED. RESIDENTS AND LOCAL
OFFICIALS SHOULD MONITOR THE SITUATION CLOSELY AND BE PREPARED TO
TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IF A WARNING IS ISSUED.

Seattle City Forecast:

…HIGH WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY EVENING…

TONIGHT…RAIN IN THE EVENING…THEN SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A HALF INCH TO ONE INCH POSSIBLE. LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MID 50S. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 20 MPH. GUSTS TO 35 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

WEDNESDAY…BREEZY…RAIN. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A HALF INCH TO ONE INCH POSSIBLE. HIGHS NEAR 60. SOUTH WIND 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…RAIN AT TIMES. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A TENTH TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH POSSIBLE. LOWS NEAR 50. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH BECOMING EAST WITH GUSTS TO 25 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

THURSDAY…VERY WINDY. RAIN AT TIMES. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A TENTH TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH POSSIBLE. HIGHS IN THE LOWER TO MID 50S. NORTH WIND 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 30 MPH INCREASING TO SOUTH 30 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 65 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

THURSDAY NIGHT…WINDY. SHOWERS LIKELY. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A TENTH TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH POSSIBLE. LOWS IN THE MID 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH DECREASING TO 10 TO 15 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

NWS Forecast for Thursday currently has gusts up to 70 MPH!!!

  • Thursday: Rain. High near 54. Windy, with a north northeast wind 6 to 11 mph becoming south 36 to 46 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 70 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
  • Thursday Night: Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 45. Windy. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Here’s a snap shot of the pending tides – please remember this is NOT reflecting the coastal flooding which causes the tides to be higher than originally predicted.

2014-12-09_1644

UPDATE: 4:58 PM to add the Puget Sound Marine Forecast:

SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY MORNING THROUGH  WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON  STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY  EVENING  

 WED  S WIND 20 TO 30 KT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT. RAIN.  
WED NIGHT  S WIND 15 TO 25 KT...EASING TO 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES  2 TO 4 FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT OR LESS AFTER MIDNIGHT. RAIN IN THE  EVENING...THEN RAIN LIKELY AFTER MIDNIGHT.  
THU  N WIND 5 TO 15 KT...BECOMING S 35 TO 45 KT. STORM FORCE  WINDS ARE POSSIBLE. WIND WAVES 2 FT OR LESS BUILDING TO 5 TO 8 FT.  
THU NIGHT  SW WIND 35 TO 45 KT EARLY...EASING TO 5 TO 15 KT.  STORM FORCE WINDS ARE POSSIBLE IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 6 TO 8  FT...SUBSIDING TO 2 FT OR LESS.

A “barking dog report” means that we are very closely watching the sound and preparing to possibly flood. It may or may not happen (hopefully not!!). Consider us your neighbor’s barking dog who’s barking at potential trouble. Stay safe my friends!
Filed Under: Safety, Weather Tagged With: , , , ,

Weather Apps/sites for predicting wind, waves & tides

December 8, 2014 by 2 Comments

We’ve used several weather sites and apps over the years in helping us predict when we get to go fishing in our driveway. Yep, we’re well into the season of higher tides and southerly winds. “Yuletides” measuring close to 13 feet will be gracing our shores starting on Christmas while the dreaded King Tides  (my definition is over 13 feet) start up later in January.

BDB compiles several different government weather sources to come up with the Barking Dog warning…

A “barking dog report” means that we are very closely watching the sound and preparing to possibly flood. It may or may not happen (hopefully not!!). Consider us your neighbor’s barking dog who’s barking at potential trouble.

This has me wondering if there are any free sites/apps that can provide all the info you want in an easy to understand format. It’s a safe bet that most weather sites are pulling their stats off of NOAA satellites/beacons so it’s just a matter of which site/app works for you. Here’s a few freebies that stood out to me…

Predict Wind includes a robust amount of weather info (includes predicted wave & tide heights) but totally whiffed in predicting our last big blow in November. They claim that their custom report/models are used by America’s Cup & Volvo Ocean sailors more than any other forecast applications. They’re predicting that we’ll be seeing peak gusts of 50 knots around 9:oo AM tomorrow…

PredictWind

iWindsurf was recommended by a neighbor and is now my go-to app. It accurately predicted our last couple of windy days off of Alki Pt. This snapshot of their Prediction Table is showing steady wind of 21 knots with peak gusts to 48 for tomorrow at 5:00 PM.

IMG_0227

There are several good sources for tide heights but I prefer Tide Graph HD from Brainware LLC. Here’s the height for Seattle @ 6PM tomorrow…

TideGraphHD

 

Wave height is pretty much a factor of wind speed around here. The fetch or travel distances approx. the same from North to South.

Wind 10-20 Kt = 3 footers

Wind 15-25 Kt = 4 footers

Wind 25-35 Kt = 6 footers

Wind 35-45 Kt = up to 8 feet! (BTW, predicted by NOAA Marine forecast for Puget Sound/Hood Canal this Thursday evening)

 

IMG_3522 Beach Drive’s own Psycho of the Soup uses the IWindsurf app to map out wind speed forecasts for slaying the surf along the drive.

 

Scupper, reporting for Beach Drive Blog

 

Filed Under: Tides, Weather

Beach Burn Ban LIFTED

December 2, 2014 by 1 Comment

2014-12-02_1706Yesterday we published the notice from the City of Seattle about the burn ban restricting bonfires…today, they have lifted said burn ban. That didn’t last long!

Rejoice around the bonfires with the Christmas ships, merry neighbors!

For immediate release                                                     

December 2, 2014

Contact:          David Takami 206-684-7241

david.takami@seattle.gov

Burn ban lifted: Beach fires can resume

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency today lifted the burn ban for King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

For Seattle Parks and Recreation, this means that beach fires at Alki Beach Park, 1702 Alki Ave. SW, and Golden Gardens Park, 8498 Seaview Ave. NW, can resume. Bonfires scheduled for on-shore Christmas Ship events can also resume.

The rules for beach fires are as follows:

  • Light fires ONLY in designated fire pits, which are available on a first-come, first-serve basis
  • Burn only clean firewood like bare, clean dry cordwood (chemically treated wood like lumber releases a strong-smelling, dirty smoke into the air and burning pallets can leave nails and debris on the beach)
  • Douse your fire completely with water (NOT sand) before leaving
  • Don’t remove anything from the park
  • Dispose of trash and ashes in the containers provided for each
  • Be considerate of others – no amplified music
  • Alcohol is not permitted in Seattle parks

For more information on burn bans please visit the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency at http://www.pscleanair.org/airq/status.asp

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Weather

Just a dusting of snow

November 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Not too much snow overnight for those who live along Beach Drive…just enough to be pretty! Speaking of pretty, it’s pretty chilly outside with winds from the north. Stay warm, neighbors!

2014-11-29 09.54.51
2014-11-29 09.44.37

Filed Under: Weather

Winter Weather Advisory starting at 9:00 tonight

November 28, 2014 by Leave a Comment

20140209_080528We may not get snow at sea level along Beach Drive like we did in February this year. But it looks like we are in store for some very cold, windy weather.

Here is a forecast:

…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 9 PM THIS EVENING TO 11 AM PST SATURDAY…

TONIGHT…RAIN LIKELY IN THE EARLY EVENING…THEN RAIN AND SNOW AFTER MID EVENING. SNOW ACCUMULATION UP TO 1 INCH…EXCEPT UP TO 2 INCHES OVER NORTH SEATTLE. SNOW LEVEL NEAR 300 FEET AFTER MIDNIGHT. LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MID 30S. SOUTHWEST WIND 10 TO 20 MPH.

SATURDAY…BREEZY. LIGHT SNOW LIKELY IN THE MORNING…THEN MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. SNOW ACCUMULATION AN INCH OR LESS IN THE MORNING. NO SNOW ACCUMULATION IN THE AFTERNOON. HIGHS IN THE LOWER TO MID 30S. NORTH WIND 15 TO 25 MPH.

SATURDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MID 20S. NORTHEAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

Stay warm!

Filed Under: Weather

Barking Dog Report: Strong Wind and Waves

November 6, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Barking-Dog-ReportBrace yourself for another stormy day. As I write this post (8:00 am) we have a wind advisory starting around noon and ending at 6:00 pm and a gale warning in effect until 4:00 pm with a high tide of 11.86 feet at 3:32 pm.

Here is the current Seattle City forecast:

…WIND ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 6 PM PST THIS EVENING…

TODAY…WINDY. RAIN AT TIMES IN THE MORNING…THEN SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A QUARTER TO A HALF INCH POSSIBLE. HIGHS IN THE LOWER 60S. SOUTH WIND 5 TO 15 MPH BECOMING SOUTHWEST 20 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH IN THE AFTERNOON.

TONIGHT…BREEZY. MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MID 40S. SOUTHWEST WIND 15 TO 25 MPH BECOMING SOUTH TO 10 MPH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

National Weather Service:

  • Today: Showers. High near 61. Windy, with a south wind 26 to 33 mph, with gusts as high as 44 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
  • Tonight:  A 40 percent chance of showers. Patchy fog after 4am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low around 44. Breezy, with a southwest wind 18 to 23 mph becoming light south after midnight.

Puget Sound Marine Forecast:

 GALE WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 4 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON    

TODAY  S WIND 15 TO 25 KT…BECOMING SW 25 TO 35 KT LATE IN THE  MORNING. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT…BUILDING TO 4 TO 6 FT. RAIN IN THE  MORNING…THEN SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.  

TONIGHT  SW WIND 20 TO 30 KT…EASING TO 10 TO 20 KT AFTER  MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT…S

A “barking dog report” means that we are very closely watching the sound and preparing to possibly flood. It may or may not happen (hopefully not!!).  Consider us your neighbor’s barking dog who’s barking at potential trouble.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Safety, Weather

120 Homes without power on Beach Drive

October 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment

It appears the powerful winds tonight have brought down a tree or branches along with a power line causing 120 homes to be without power.

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We are watching transformers blowing across the sound at Maury and Manchester (we believe). Looks like Manchester has power back on at this time. We had our power blip off and back on.

Hang on to your hats – we still have a couple hours of this wind warning to get through.

Filed Under: Weather

Howling Winds in the Forecast Tonight: Barking Dog Report

October 25, 2014 by Leave a Comment

Barking-Dog-ReportFor those newer to Beach Drive Blog, one of the main reasons why we started this neighborhood site was to help keep the neighborhood informed of potential weather situations. I’m often surprised when neighbors are caught completely off guard or are not prepared for potential flooding. A “barking dog report” is kind of like your neighbors dog that’s barking – it could mean trouble or nothing at all. At the very least, it may serve as a reminder to be prepared for big storms.

So what’s triggering this “barking dog” is that we have wind gusts up to 60 mph in Seattle tonight. Eeee gahds!  We have a HIGH WIND WARNING in effect starting at 8:00 pm tonight and ending at 2:00 am.

From the NWS: A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS THAT A HAZARDOUS WIND EVENT IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING.

Check out the current forecast (and be sure to check back as forecast do change).

Seattle City Forecast

…HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 8 PM THIS EVENING TO 2 AM PDT SUNDAY…

TONIGHT…VERY WINDY. RAIN IN THE EVENING…THEN SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A QUARTER TO A HALF INCH POSSIBLE. LOWS IN THE MID 40S TO LOWER 50S. SOUTH WIND 25 TO 40 MPH BECOMING SOUTHWEST AFTER MIDNIGHT. GUSTS TO 60 MPH.

SUNDAY…BREEZY. SHOWERS LIKELY. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A TENTH TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH POSSIBLE. HIGHS IN THE 50S. SOUTHWEST WIND 15 TO 25 MPH.

SUNDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. LOWS IN THE MID 40S TO LOWER 50S. EAST WIND 10 TO 15 MPH BECOMING SOUTH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

National Weather Service

  • Late Afternoon:  Rain. Steady temperature around 57. Windy, with a south wind around 30 mph, with gusts as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
  • Tonight: Showers. Low around 49. Windy, with a southwest wind 35 to 40 mph decreasing to 28 to 33 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
  • Sunday: Showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 18 to 23 mph decreasing to 9 to 14 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.

Puget Sound Marine Forecast

 GALE WARNING IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT    

TONIGHT  N WIND 10 TO 20 KT EARLY…BECOMING SW AND RISING TO 25  TO 35 KT IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 1 TO 3 FT…BUILDING TO 4 TO 6  FT. RAIN IN THE EVENING…THEN SHOWERS AFTER MIDNIGHT.  

SUN  SW WIND 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT. SHOWERS LIKELY.  

SUN NIGHT  SW WIND 10 TO 20 KT…BECOMING S 5 TO O 15 KT. WIND WAVES  1 TO 3 FT. A CHANCE OF SHOWERS.

And last… but not least… the tides

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It looks like we may miss any serious flooding (green-water spilling over the bulkhead). Tonight’s high tide is 10.7 ft just before 6:00 pm.  If the strong winds blow in at 8:00 pm, then tides should be around 8 feet (give or take)… however if you add 4 to 6 foot waves to the mix, it could be interesting. The good news is that the tides will be heading down until midnight.

The main reason for the “barking dog” is that if the wind warning lives up to forecast with 60 mph winds, we could see downed tree branches, loss of power, etc. If you have any umbrellas or other potential projectiles outside, you may want to make sure everything is secure.

 

 

 

Filed Under: Safety, Weather

Small Craft Advisory, Wind and Waves

October 13, 2014 by Leave a Comment

The National Weather Service has issued a small craft advisory until 11:00 tonight and the local weather reports say we could have gusts tonight up to 30 mph. We’ve moved our sailboat back to the marina for the winter expecting our beautiful fall to start displaying more typical fall weather…and here we are!

Here are the most recent reports through Wednesday, as of the publishing of this post:

PUGET SOUND MARINE FORECAST

 TONIGHT  S WIND 15 TO 25 KT…EASING TO 5 TO 15 KT. WIND WAVES  2 TO 4 FT…SUBSIDING. RAIN.

 TUE  S WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. SHOWERS.

 TUE NIGHT  S WIND TO 10 KT. WIND WAVES 1 FT OR LESS. SHOWERS.  

WED  S WIND RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT. WIND WAVES BUILDING TO 2 TO  4 FT.

SEATTLE FORECAST

TONIGHT…RAIN. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A HALF INCH TO ONE INCH POSSIBLE. LOWS IN THE LOWER TO MID 50S. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 20 MPH. GUSTS TO 30 MPH IN THE EVENING.

TUESDAY…SHOWERS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A TENTH TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH POSSIBLE. HIGHS NEAR 60. SOUTH WIND TO 10 MPH.

TUESDAY NIGHT…SHOWERS LIKELY IN THE EVENING…THEN SHOWERS AND A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS AFTER MIDNIGHT. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A QUARTER TO A HALF INCH POSSIBLE…EXCEPT HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE IN THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS NEAR 50. SOUTHEAST WIND TO 10 MPH BECOMING SOUTH AFTER MIDNIGHT.

WEDNESDAY…SHOWERS AND A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS A TENTH TO A QUARTER OF AN INCH POSSIBLE…EXCEPT HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE IN THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS NEAR 60. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

WEDNESDAY NIGHT…SHOWERS LIKELY AND A CHANCE OF EVENING THUNDERSTORMS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS LESS THAN A TENTH OF AN INCH LIKELY…EXCEPT HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE IN THUNDERSTORMS. LOWS NEAR 50. SOUTH WIND 10 TO 15 MPH.

….now where are my rain boots?

Filed Under: Weather
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