Windy and Dry

There was a wind advisory in effect yesterday and today — big north winds. Not as windy as I was expecting yesterday but it really picked up today, and the weather station recorded a record gust of 38 miles per hour. The air is very dry, too — 21% humidity, so everything is drying out in a hurry. Not that there’s much moisture in the ground to begin with — I think we’re at 40% normal rainfall for the season. At left is the current infrared satellite view with an overlay of surface conditions: note the big high pressure cell off the coast blocking all the moisture, the winds coming down from the intermountain northwest, and the storm system off the British Columbia coast. Pica is up in the Puget Sound area this week getting all that rain; we aren’t.