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Day Twelve (1/24/08) - Let the sun shine in!
After a few days of strong winds and periodic downpours, Midway Atoll has emerged into sunlight. If you are interested in seeing the remarkable weather pattern that has affected this portion of our trip, read on...
Midway has seen some strong weather the past few days. We've had high winds at times - some ironwood trees have blown over and a few nesting albatross narrowly missed being crushed by falling coconuts. We also have had periodic intense downpours that have flooded petrel burrows and generally soaked everything in sight.
We've been checking the weather constantly to plan activities for the next day, and the satellite image below reveals a remarkable pattern in the weather we've been experiencing. You can see a strong north/south front positioned over Midway that essentially bisects the entire North Pacific basin. The worst of it extends north past the Aleutians! The lower section of this front was "parked" over Midway for two days and is responsible for the rain and winds.
It's moved off to the east and north now, and things are brightening up as we wind down our trip to this amazing place.
