In what might qualify as the craziest 24 hours in Seattle weather history, we went from drenching, record rains, to strong, gusty winds, to nearly a record high for the day, only to find snow on the ground some five hours later. What is this? Chicago? (I guess we could have qualified for "Windy City" status Tuesday night.)

But the craziest part of all was the snow -- some 1-3" fell between Shoreline and Everett and points east, blanketing an area that was nearing 60 degrees just a few hours earlier.

The snow, winds, and flooding caused a number of schools to be delayed Wednesday. There were also scattered power outages due to strong winds overnight (gusts to 45 mph were reported in the North Sound areas) as well as tree branches falling onto power lines from the heavy, wet snow. Puget Sound Energy reported about 5,000 people without power early Wednesday morning in the Kitsap County and Northeast King County areas. Snohomish PUD had about 8,500 people without power, and Seattle City Light reported 2,800 outages.

The Seattle outages included North Seattle Wednesday morning, leaving several traffic signals in the dark along Aurora Avenue between about NE 85th and NE 130th, making the Aurora commute quite the challenge for the second straight day.

The snow was gradually turning over to rain, and should melt away as the day progresses. Highs are expected to reach the low 40s, amid scattered rain showers.

In the meantime, we're still dealing with some leftover flooding problems. Flood Warnings remain on a number of Western Washington rivers. More >>.

The Shoreline area had some flooding Tuesday. Homeowners who've dealt with this before blame the city and are taking the issue to court. More >>

Getting through the mountain passes was not an easy thing to do Wednesday morning. The heavy rain that had been falling over night turned to snow. Stevens Pass reported 14 inches between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. Make sure you check ahead before heading over the Cascades. Better yet, just go prepared for the worst. More >>

Eastern Washington is also getting hit with high winds. Sustained winds of 50 miles per hour gusting to 65 have downed trees and knocked out power to more than 4,000 people in the Spokane area. Some schools without power have been closed for the day.

And we haven't even hit December yet.

Here's the "Box Score" of what's happened around here over the past 36 hours.

Rain

Heavy rains began falling late Monday night as a strong system basically parked overhead. Seattle set the Nov. 18 daily rainfall record with 2.06 inches of rain, and 1.5-2.5" totals were pretty common around the Central Sound areas.

Of course, with the heavy rains and warm temperatures, that meant rain was falling in the mountains as well, adding pressure to several rivers, and sending some over their banks.

Wind

In addition to the rain, wind was a factor for much of the day storm stalled overhead. The South Sound had steady wind gusts to 30-35 mph most of the day, and then the winds moved north during the evening.

Around 11 p.m., Paine Field in Everett reported a gust to 47 mph. Other spotters called in reports of gusts to 40-50 mph in the area.

Temperature

But perhaps the strangest part of the day was the temperatures, which were all over the place. Basically what happened was that we had a strong cold front parked right over the Central Sound area. Cold fronts are boundaries in the battle between cold and warm air, and along the front us usually where the heaviest rain lies.

On the north side of the front, was the cooler, north wind. On the south side, it was warm, with a gusty south wind. When it was overhead, you'd think you were in the middle of a tropical storm.

What was so strange were two factors: 1) That the temperature difference was so stark and 2) That it was drifting north and south through the region. So as you sat at home or work in one spot, and the front blew back and forth, the weather would change radically.

Case in point was Tuesday night around 10:25 in Sedro-Woolley. It was 57 degrees with a south wind. Then, the monsoon hit, with torrential rains and strong winds to 45 mph. By 10:45, it was down to 41 degrees with a north wind as the front pushed south. At that same time, it was 57 in Seattle, 61 in North Bend, 55 in Everett -- and 37 in Bellingham and 39 in Port Angeles.

The 57-degree reading in Seattle was just 2 degrees shy of the record high for the day. By 8 a.m., it was 35.

What's Left? Oh Yeah, The Snow

So, as the night progressed, this front finally sagged off to the south like it was supposed to, only to be replaced by a Convergence Zone. (What's that? See our Weather FAQ.)

The cold air that moved in behind the front mixed with the downdrafts from the heavy downpours to bring down even colder air from the higher altitudes to the surface, dropping the snow levels to around 200-300 feet -- good enough to turn it to snow from about Shoreline to Everett, and east to Woodinville and Bothell.

(And, in an ironic twist, this was perfectly explained (and timed) in Wednesday morning's edition of our "Ask Steve Pool" article in the Seattle P-I. We put these Q&A sessions together the weekend before they go to print, and these downdrafts happen from time to time, so it just timed perfectly that today's edition would happen to mention this somewhat rare event. See our Ask Steve Web site for the explanation.)

Reports ranged from a dusting to about 3" in the higher hills. The main metro Lynnwood and Mukilteo areas had about an inch (guestimated from my morning commute).

The air was warming as we got later into the afternoon, and we're expected to eventually get to around 40 degrees and change what snow is back over to rain and melt it away. But we're still playing tag with a little snow in the forecast. Check the KOMO 4 Weather Center for the latest forecast.

In the meantime, we'll keep our eyes peeled for whatever other curveballs Mother Nature will send our way.

A Day In The Life Of An Everett Resident

To tidy this all up and to really hit over the head just how crazy it was, let's look at Everett over the past 36 hours: