You want to see a HUGE storm that covers much of the North Pacific? Here is an infrared satellite picture at 10 AM PST today. The center of the low center is in the middle of swirling clouds south of the Aleutians, with the associated front extending to the Pacific Northwest.
Here is the 6-h WRF forecast verifying the same time (solid lines are isobars, lines of constant pressure, shading is temperature). Wow..that is a BIG storm and a very deep one, with the central pressure of 956 HPa.
The forecast wind gusts at 7 AM this morning are scary, exceeding 70 knots (81 mph).
Big storm with strong winds means big waves. Here is the forecast for the same time (7 AM) from the NOAA Wavewatch III system. Waves at that time were getting to 11 meters (36 feet).
My theory is that we had some broken fog. Sun was getting in and reflecting off the glass of the tall building (the Russell Investment Center) and then illuminating the fog. The structure of the illumination of the fog reflected the windows and variations of that side of the building.
Here are some other pictures of the building, you can see why two areas of light come off the building (with less windows in the center) and that the building is highly reflective.
There have been some other strange optical effects associated with this building, one of which would warm the heart of any Seattle resident:
Announcement
The Northwest Weather Workshop, the major annual meeting for those interested in Northwest weather, will take place February 27-28th in Seattle at the NOAA Sand Point Facility.
The draft agenda (which will change) is found here.
Registration is required. For more information about the meeting and online registration, go to the meeting website.
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