SOARING FORECAST, DECEMBER 16 TO 19, 2011

WEEKEND SOARING FORECAST, DECEMBER 16 TO 19, 2011

The jet stream carried cold, wet and snowy weather into our area this last week leaving a fresh dusting of snow on our mountains. That system has moved east leaving us with clear sunny skies throughout this period. An offshore Santa Ana condition will develop Friday with some gusty Northeast winds forecast for the afternoon. Saturday the winds will be gentle and the temperature is forecast to increase. Sunday the conditions will again change with the return of gentle Westerly breezes.It will be sunny and pleasant throughout this period.SATURDAY UPDATE:Friday we had BOW WAVE upwind of our mountain range. Dale Masters and student spent quite a bit of time east of Wrightwood in the Grob 103 battling extreme rotor up to the smooth bow wave. They liked that challenge so much they descended and did it again. Bradley Baum towed to the work camp area at the second ridge in his ASW 28 and after struggling with the rotor, successfully hooked up with the bow wave to 14,000 feet. He was forced to descend due to the unanticipated extreme cold soaking after flying several hours in the wave. After some hot tea he was able to communicate the details of an amazing flight. Why are we having this strange weather pattern with 180 wind direction changes? - - A circular pattern of the jet stream has "torn off" of the main flow. Kind of like a cutoff low looks on a surface synoptic chart. That "circular" ball of the jet stream is rotating in our area so as it moves we'll be subjected alternatively to different parts of the circular wind patterns. This should subside in a day or two from now and we'll be back to our westerlies.

The National Weather Service is predicting the following local surface conditions for Friday through Monday:

FRIDAY: Sunny. Temperature: 50 degreesWind: Calm becoming Northeast 15 to 20 mph. Gusty.SATURDAY: Sunny, Temperature: 56 degreesWind: Northeast 10 to 15 mph.SUNDAYSunny, Temperature: 55 degreesWind: West 5 to 10 mph.MONDAY:Sunny, Temperature: 55 degreesWind: Northeast 5 mph.-Robert....