Michael Price wrote -

>Like Jack, I disagree. It happened that at the time of the first arrivals of
>WESA, there was a large high pressure dome dominating Cascadian weather
>for the entire week to ten days that included the before, during, and after
>period of WESA arrival. It is anecdotal wisdom here in Vancouver BC that
>long distance migrant birds overfly in good weather (high pressure), and
>that it takes bad weather (low pressure), with its rain and opposing winds
>to stop them and force them down to where we can look 'em over for
>RNST's. When the summertime Semi-Permanent Pacific High is off the
>BC-Washington coast, southbound birds from the south coast of Alaska
>*could* fly out into the Northern Pacific in a south*westerly* direction, pick
>up favorable tailwinds on the western side of the High and make landfall
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>anywhere from southern Washington to southern California, arriving
>more-or-less as simultaneously if not before birds doing a more painstaking
>stop-by-stop down the coast. This would be the West Coast analog to
>southbound migrants leaving SE from Newfoundland, picking up the Bermuda
>High in similar fashion, and making landfall in the Caribbean Islands to
>South America. I'm speculating they do the same thing on this coast.

Just a slight correction. This would be the eastern side of the North Pacific
High. Winds flow clockwise around a high pressure area in the northern
hemisphere so the north winds are on the eastern side of highs. There is a
little homily that can help you remember this called Buys Ballot's Law after
the guy who thought it up: "Back to the wind; low on the left." High on the
left in the southern hemisphere.

Speaking of northerly winds, the current weather pattern may be conducive to
an offshore wave or two. There has been a northerly flow traversing the
northern edge of the Gulf of Alaska the past few days which then turns
southward along about 130W and swings onshore around northern California
and southern Oregon. Perhaps some pelagic trips off Cascadia would turn up
good numbers of seabirds now along and past the continental shelf (e.g.
Sabine's Gulls, stray Short-tailed Albatross <g>, etc.).

,Jack

jack_bowling at mindlink.bc.ca