Prediction Jargon Decoder: Saturday, September 21, 2024
Animation of satellite imagery shows a roaring vortex near Pt. Reyes uses the Lighthouse Sensor SE 19g22!
But the pressure gradient over Sacramento was strong enough to transform Sherman Island's southwesterly wind into a 15g19 northwesterly wind.
All of which is to say I should shut up and stick to my predictions from last night:
- Surface northwest winds from the North Pacific High continue to roar about 80 miles west of Golden Gate, but…
2. NPH has a ridge leading to Northern California and the Pacific Northwest.
3. Therefore, low pressure from the valley swells up the coast from Pismo Beach to Platinum. arena.
4. The resulting north-south pressure gradient causes the elongated counterclockwise vortex to rotate upward, producing southerly coastal winds in the same region.
5. This surface vortex has counterclockwise support up to 5,000 feet in altitude, so it can last all day.
6. The same low pressure causes the strongest pressure gradient in Sacramento.
Therefore: Southwest Coastal Winds flowing from Muir Gap in Marin to Larkspur/Clark's Brickyard, North Tower to near Brooks Island, and reaching Sherman Island in the late afternoon. The southwesterly wind in the mid to upper teens at San Bruno Gap turned to the northwest and struck on the 3rd. Avenue, but often unreliable at launch sites.
