Whistler Weather Blog

Posted on Monday, February 16, 2009

Rex block weather pattern

The "Rex block weather pattern" in this case is hugging the West Coast of the Washington state

A Rex block sets up with a strong high-pressure ridge adjacent to a strong low-pressure trough. A large ridge is north of a large trough. Air flow in the north Pacific curves around the ridge and then around the trough in the Southwest US. This causes the air to swing in loops near the same longitude but forces the air to a much lower latitude. The wind flow makes little progress to the east due to the "half figure 8" rotation the air must endure. All precipitation is then deflected south to california.

Rex block