Our dedicated friends at National Weather Service HQ on Woodley Island have been busy all weekend forecasting the weird weather to come, and chronicling the weird weather we have had. Here are a few of their findings.

I. SNEAKER WAVE WARNING TODAY

Today is a day to be extra, extra careful at the beach, as the sneaker wave forecast — technology for which was developed right here in Humboldt — predicts a high probability of powerful rogue waves.

At least one of you, possibly a Humboldt newcomer, is asking himself: What is a sneaker wave? Well, you’ve probably heard the legend of the “seventh wave,” which is reportedly bigger and grander than the six that preceded it. In the mid-1980s, Sting wrote a typically crappy song that utilized the metaphor of the “seventh wave” to describe “love,” which in the Sting-o-verse supposedly washes away all that came before.

Sneaker waves are like that, except they kill you. Here’s a NWS video illustrating the phenomenon.

II. XTREME WIND

What’s erratically pushing those big waves onto our beaches? The big storm front behind them. The forecast for the coming week is full of rain and more rain, peaking on Wednesday, when thunderstorms are a possibility. 

But the key thing to watch for, say the weather folk, is wind. This morning they issued a high wind advisory for the inland parts of Humboldt County, warning especially drivers to be cautious while traveling along or across ridgetops. The advisory goes into effect tomorrow at 10 a.m., and lasts until Wednesday afternoon.

Here’s it is, in the NWS’s usual all-caps fashion:

 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN EUREKA HAS ISSUED A WIND
 ADVISORY...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM TUESDAY TO 1 AM PST
 WEDNESDAY. 
 
 * WINDS...15 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH ON RIDGETOPS. THE
   STRONGEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO OCCUR TUESDAY EVENING.
 
 * LOCATIONS INCLUDE...KNEELAND...FICKLE HILL...BALD HILLS OF
   REDWOOD NATIONAL PARK.
 
 * HIGHWAYS IMPACTED...199 AND 299...INCLUDING BERRY SUMMIT.
   STRONG WINDS CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT...ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH
   PROFILE VEHICLES.
 
 * FOR A DETAILED VIEW OF THE HAZARD AREA...VISIT
   HTTP://WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/MAP.
 
 PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
 
 A WIND ADVISORY MEANS THAT WIND GUSTS OF 45 MPH OR GREATER ARE
 EXPECTED. WINDS THIS STRONG CAN MAKE DRIVING DIFFICULT...
 ESPECIALLY FOR HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES. USE EXTRA CAUTION.

III. FREAK WARMITY

One of the neatest things about our National Weather Service staff is that they keep a close eye on the weird. Are they all like that? Do government forecasters in Fort Wayne, Indiana feel free to cut loose and publish some head-scratching bit of data for no other purpose than to make Hoosiers go “Wow”? We don’t know. But ours do, and it’s great.

This morning, someone staring at a screen on Woodley Island noticed the following bit of weird, did up a graphic and posted it to the indispensable US National Weather Service Eureka California Facebook page — the single best government Facebook page of any kind, anywhere, so far as we are aware.

Check it: At exactly four o’clock this morning (our time), there were exactly two places in the continental United States over 55 degrees: Miami and Eureka.

 

What does it mean? No one knows.