Here are the sites we found useful during this year's Squadron Weather class.  If you find any of these links broken please let the Webmaster know!  Your comments are welcome too.

Current Reported Conditions:

(1)  Washington NWS reported conditions map or click in table for details

(2)  Pressure gradients that drive the winds

(3)  Ferry wind reports

(4)  Radar short-range base reflectivity

(5)  Satellite image selections

(6)  British Columbia current conditions 

(7)  Automated Buoy Reports 

Forecasts and Big Picture:

(1)  Forecaster's Discussion Seattle provides a few unvarnished paragraphs about the big picture and any computer model uncertainties  (SE Alaska)

(2)  Pacific weather maps: scroll down to surface maps, current and 24, 48 or 96 hours out from NOAA (computer models plus human review)

(3)  University of Washington local forecast simulation maps, each with a large table of options:

GFS Link has a WRF-GFS 4 km Domain out to 84 hours.  Scroll down to the 4 km Surface and try 10m wind Speed for Western WA which is the tightest coverage of Puget Sound up to Nanaimo.  Select either a LOOP or the forecast hour you would like. (There is a new 1.3km set which you may want to watch too; it came off experimental status 2/12.)

NAM Link  Try scrolling down to the MM5-NAM 12 km Domain section, find the SLP, 10 m winds, topography or 925 mb temp or Surface wind speed row, then select LOOP or the forecast hour.  This will cover a larger area but with less resolution than the 4km GFS.

Ensembles to compare a collection of computer models

Note: the first frame of the simulations is the initialization; the model becomes effective in frames 2 or 3.

(4)  The University of British Columbia has made their 4-km simulation available at MM5N Canada  This is a research simulation and carries "No guarantee on accuracy, usability, or reliability.", so use it as a supplement to other sources.  Try clicking Open in the Grid@4 km and MM5N cell of the selection table, then pick the latest initialization, the Colored Surface Winds or Colored Wind Speeds, and either Show Movies or the time desired.

(5)  Marine forecast text from NOAA as read over the VHF for Washington.  Text forecasts by Environment Canada for British Columbia.

(6)  The UW Boaters Information System had provided forecasts in a nifty graphical format on maps for tides, winds, etc however its funding has gone away.   You can take a look at their recommendation for an alternative at Boaters Information System or you may want to go directly to the UW GFS charts in item (3).

(7)  NDFD forecast grids to 5 km resolution prepared by NOAA regional centers, accessible in XML or graphical form (source for XM and Sirius satellite radio plots).

(8)  Forecast maps of wind, pressure and waves for the world's oceans offering 0.5 degree GFS and some NAM computer models.  Passage Weather

General Sites:

These two excellent general weather sites access lots of other resources and some explanations.  If a link is broken above you might be able to find its new location though one of these pages.  Or check them out when you just want to do some weather web surfing:

National Weather Service NW Forecast Center at Sand Point

University of Washington resource list

Lt Scott Semyan, P has compiled a creative presentation of the weather from various sources covering the areas he is interested in.  With all the usual disclaimers from Scott and the Power Squadrons have a look at:

 http://www.semyan.com/asp/Weather.aspx