Get out the yams? November-type storm strikes
SEATTLE -- If you see Mother Nature stocking up on stuffing and cranberry sauce, you might want to let her know November was several months ago.
Apparently her calendar blew a few months back when she wasn't looking, as an unseasonably late-fall-esque storm came rolling into Western Washington Monday night, even though Memorial Day is just a couple weeks from now.
The storm was not only bringing a round of steady rain, but strong, gusty winds to the region -- especially along the coast and north of Everett.
For the coast, we're looking at southerly winds gusting as high as 55 mph. Meanwhile, a Wind Advisory is in effect for all interior locations of Western Washington from midnight Tuesday morning through 11 a.m. Tuesday. Here, wind gusts potential is between 40-45 mph for the Puget Sound area, but as high as 50 mph in the north interior.
The What
Forecasting models show a very deep area of low pressure off our coast strengthening to as low as 978 of pressure (about 28.88" of pressure) which is about on par for some of our good windstorm events in the fall and winter. The good news is, the storm was curving to the north and make landfall up along the northern tip of Vancouver Island. That will keep this from being felt too strongly around here, but still enough to notice it.
Strong winds are expected along the coast and in the north interior (Everett north to the Canadian border, and west to Port Townsend including Whidbey, Camano and San Juan Islands) overnight through about dawn Tuesday. As of 10 p.m., winds were gusting to about 40-45 mph on the coast and north interior (Oak Harbor had a gust of 44 mph).
Wind speeds were expected to increase a bit there to the 45-50 mph gust range around midnight and hold into the early morning hours.
In the Puget Sound and Southwestern Washington area, it looks like the front passes around 3-5 a.m., which is when the burst of south wind will roll up through the Puget Sound region and probably stick around into the morning commute, tapering off as we get into the late morning.
Its still doesn't look too particularly bad here for the main Seattle/Tacoma/South Everett area (remember, as you get into Everett and points north, you get the southeast wind) since the storm is going so far north and we don't get that low center right due north of us, which is our big wind generator.
So I don't expect much in the way of crazy wind gusts -- maybe 40 mph and a few 45s in the exposed areas near the shorelines. The one caveat here is that some of the trees have started budding, so they might be heavier and more susceptible to blowing over with a lower wind gust threshold than a bare tree would have in January. I think the main story here is not so much the actual wind speed, but just that it's so far out of season.
Where we go from here
Wind will be tapering off all areas by 11 a.m. or so, and the rest of Tuesday will feature a mix of showers and sunbreaks. Another storm rolls in on Wednesday, but this one will be much weaker and just be a steady light rain event. Showers linger Thursday, then we get a nice break for the weekend.
That would be the weekend of May 9th, Mother Nature...
Apparently her calendar blew a few months back when she wasn't looking, as an unseasonably late-fall-esque storm came rolling into Western Washington Monday night, even though Memorial Day is just a couple weeks from now.
The storm was not only bringing a round of steady rain, but strong, gusty winds to the region -- especially along the coast and north of Everett.
For the coast, we're looking at southerly winds gusting as high as 55 mph. Meanwhile, a Wind Advisory is in effect for all interior locations of Western Washington from midnight Tuesday morning through 11 a.m. Tuesday. Here, wind gusts potential is between 40-45 mph for the Puget Sound area, but as high as 50 mph in the north interior.
The What
Forecasting models show a very deep area of low pressure off our coast strengthening to as low as 978 of pressure (about 28.88" of pressure) which is about on par for some of our good windstorm events in the fall and winter. The good news is, the storm was curving to the north and make landfall up along the northern tip of Vancouver Island. That will keep this from being felt too strongly around here, but still enough to notice it.
Strong winds are expected along the coast and in the north interior (Everett north to the Canadian border, and west to Port Townsend including Whidbey, Camano and San Juan Islands) overnight through about dawn Tuesday. As of 10 p.m., winds were gusting to about 40-45 mph on the coast and north interior (Oak Harbor had a gust of 44 mph).
Wind speeds were expected to increase a bit there to the 45-50 mph gust range around midnight and hold into the early morning hours.
In the Puget Sound and Southwestern Washington area, it looks like the front passes around 3-5 a.m., which is when the burst of south wind will roll up through the Puget Sound region and probably stick around into the morning commute, tapering off as we get into the late morning.
Its still doesn't look too particularly bad here for the main Seattle/Tacoma/South Everett area (remember, as you get into Everett and points north, you get the southeast wind) since the storm is going so far north and we don't get that low center right due north of us, which is our big wind generator.
So I don't expect much in the way of crazy wind gusts -- maybe 40 mph and a few 45s in the exposed areas near the shorelines. The one caveat here is that some of the trees have started budding, so they might be heavier and more susceptible to blowing over with a lower wind gust threshold than a bare tree would have in January. I think the main story here is not so much the actual wind speed, but just that it's so far out of season.
Where we go from here
Wind will be tapering off all areas by 11 a.m. or so, and the rest of Tuesday will feature a mix of showers and sunbreaks. Another storm rolls in on Wednesday, but this one will be much weaker and just be a steady light rain event. Showers linger Thursday, then we get a nice break for the weekend.
That would be the weekend of May 9th, Mother Nature...