Dale McKinnon
02/24/07 #2550
two different winds blowing, with a convergence, somewhere
There is indeed a convergence that happens at or just south of Chuckanut Bay. I saw it happen on Jan 1, 2006 (or was it 2005). I believe it was the day Mike got lost. I was at #2 buoy (Post Point). It was a bit choppy on my way out, but I had a northerly and no chop on the beginnings of the ebb. While out there I looked south and thought “what the…” and stood up in my boat. It was a buzzsaw of white caps coming off Governor's Pt., with a distinct line between the whitecaps and the clean water. I knew it was a convergence, knew that a system was comingin from the SE, and knew that I'd better row as fast as I could back to behind the drydock. I knew Ron Mueller (Wayland Marine) was into the Bay, and also that he couldn't see the buzzsaw coming up the Bay. I got in behind the drydock as the froth roared in, but Ron got caught out in it. He was only 1/4 mile behind me, but it took him 45 minutes to work his way in and he was tired and soaked.
This phenomena happens because winds in a storm system travel counterclockwise around the low pressure center of the storm. The center of today's storm is passing over the Queen Charlottes right now and heading eastward to the mainleand. As this “pinwheel” passes onto land the northern half of it loses wind strength while the southern half gains strength over the water. That southern half is on us now, coming in from the SE and generating a good swell in today's ebb tide. You encountered that.
However, as the wind roars into the Skagit flats, the lower winds get directed by Bow Mountain back down toward the water, while the wind in the “middle” elevations (above 1k feet) get channeled by the Cascades up to the Fraser Delta, then the Border range turns them back on themselves and they roar down from the NNE into Bham Bay. You also encountered that. The convergence of the winds doesn't always happen in exactly the same place because of several weather events, but I'd venture to guess that the convergences are always within 1/2 mile of Governor's Pt, whenever they happen.
Go here, http://www.iwindsurf.com/windandwhere.iws?regionID=133®ionProductID=1&timeoffset=0 to see for yourself how the topography is shaping the wind coming in with this system. It seems odd wind, but actually makes perfect sense.
An excellent resource is “The Wind Came All Ways.” It's by a BC meterologist and deals with the weather in the Straits of Georgia, Fraser Valley, Gulf Islands, etc. It explains in better detail why wind happens the way it happens when it happens in Bellingham Bay better than anything I've been able to dig up from NOAA. If you're into that kinda thing…
Cheers.
Dale