Strong winds as high as 50 mph blew through the central and north Puget Sound areas Thursday morning, toppling trees and power lines across the region.

At the storm's peak, over 11,000 people lost power. Seattle City Light had the bulk of them, with about 9,000 outages in the Shoreline area. That number had been reduced to about 900 by late Thursday morning.

Puget Sound Energy had about 2,400 in the dark, mainly in Duvall, Carnation, Bremerton and Bainbridge Island.

Here are some of the peak gusts measured around the area:

Seattle (Sea-Tac): 53 mph
Port Townsend: 50 mph
Port Angeles CG Station: 48 mph
Alki Beach (W. Seattle): 44 mph
Everett: 39 mph
Friday Harbor: 39 mph

The power outages just cause a few school delays -- mainly in the Duvall area.

The winds were dying down as Thursday morning progressed.

As to what happened, Mother Nature gave us a 1-2 punch -- and I guess they could qualify as sucker punches.

What was supposed to be a dying area of low pressure drifting by offshore last night suddenly gathered some strength. That made for a large difference in pressure between eastern Washington and the coast, and thus drew in strong easterly winds through the mountain gaps and across the foothills and central and Northern Puget Sound areas.

The second punch was with the low gaining steam, the front that had stalled offshore for most of the day Wednesday and was supposed to fizzle off the coast instead also regenerated into a much stronger front.

That front pushed very slowly inland during the early morning hours Thursday, bringing a strong push of southwest wind behind the front. It was about 3 a.m. when Sea-Tac Airport reported their gust of 53 mph as the front passed. It also brought heavy rains along the frontal boundary.

That front has since drifted north into Whatcom County by midday Thursday and the winds were dying down as the front moved away.

But we're not done yet. Mother Nature might still have a third punch in her repertoire today in the form of thunderstorms. (At least this one won't be a sucker punch!)

The low is finally starting to fade away, but it is drawing in some cool, unstable air from the ocean and pushing it into Western Washington this afternoon. Combine that with the scattered sunbreaks to add some warmer air to the mix, and it's a recipe for showers and thunderstorms.

The best chance for thunderstorms is along the coast and southwestern Washington, but even the greater Puget Sound area has the potential. Highs will be in the low 50s.

Much calmer weather is in the outlook for Friday and most of the weekend.