I check the weather on www.nhc.noaa.gov and www.weatherunderground.com every morning.  I’ve been practicing reading the forecasts and mapping the predictions to my estimated course.  A front is blowing just off the Texas coast this morning that would have been almost perfect for the run down to Campeche.  Unfortunately, I was quite ready yet to hitch a ride.  On the other hand, as I was reading the Gulf of Mexico synopsis this morning one line stood out in particular.

GMZ089-041530-

SYNOPSIS FOR THE GULF OF MEXICO

330 AM CST THU DEC 04 2008

.SYNOPSIS...A COLD FRONT IS CURRENTLY MOVING OFF THE TX COAST

INTO THE NW GULF. A WAVE IS EXPECTED TO FORM ALONG THE COLD

FRONT OVER THE NORTHERN GULF TODAY...WITH THE 1019 MB LOW OVER

THE FAR WESTERN FL/ALABAMA BORDER THU EVENING AND THE COLD FRONT

EXTENDING FROM THE LOW TO 21N97W. THE BOUNDARY WILL MOVES TO

29N82W TO 24N93W TO 19N96W FRI EVENING AND THE PORTION OF THE

BOUNDARY W OF 90W IS EXPECTED TO DISSIPATE SAT EVENING AS THE

MID LEVEL IMPETUS FOR THE COLD FRONT MOVES NORTHEASTWARD INTO

THE ATLC. A SURFACE RIDGE WILL PASS EASTWARD THROUGH THE GULF

EARLY NEXT WEEK AND SOUTHERLY RETURN FLOW SETS UP IN THE WESTERN

GULF BY MON AS THE NEXT TROUGH APPROACHES FROM THE PLAINS.

See that last line?  In short, cold fronts are areas of low pressure.  You can think about wind just like you would water flowing down a mountain.  Winds flows from areas of high pressure (tall mountain) to areas of low pressure (river valley).  As the front  mentioned in the last line gets closer and closer to the Gulf coast south winds from the high pressure system down there start blowing like crazy to try and fill in the low.  Once the front passes overhead the winds immediately start blowing from the other direction, North.  Those are the winds I need.

I am hoping to get out of the slip on Monday or Tuesday and go anchor down at Redfish Island or Galveston.  Ideally, if the front is strong enough to get me there, but not too strong to for me to handle, I’ll jump on right after the front moves through and start heading for Mexico.

Lee Winters
Phone: (281) 336-0855

Web: www.SailingForSOS.com
Email: Lee.Winters@SailingForSOS.com