Week begins with gusty winds, heavy mountain snow
SEATTLE - What seems like the umpteenth storm to push through the area in just the first two weeks of the month brought another round of rain and wind to the Pacific Northwest, but it appears western Washington was mostly spared the brunt of the storm.
The storm's center came ashore just north of Hoquiam late Sunday night, then pushed over the Puget Sound area and into the Cascades.
That brought gusty winds around the area early Monday morning -- especially to Lewis, Thurston and Pierce Counties, which was on the stronger south side of the storm.
The highest gust reported so far was a 63 mph gust in the Lake Lawrence area earlier Sunday night as the storm approached.
Tacoma reported a gust of 51 mph, which was more generally representative of the South Sound. Trees and power lines were downed in Thurston and Lewis Counties. I-5 was closed for about an hour early Monday morning near the U.S. 12 ramp on the Thurston/Lewis County line after a tree fell across all lanes.
Downed trees also blocked SR-161 a few miles north of Eatonville, and fallen power lines blocked SR-507 near Bucoda for a while. Both roads are now clear.
Auburn, Bonney Lake, Olympia, Orting, Sumner, Tenino and Yelm, to name a few, had scattered power outages early Monday morning. Puget Sound Energy says most of them were back on after a few hours, but some outages remained, and that was causing a handful of school delays and closures, including the closure of The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
With the northern half of the region on the calmer north side of the storm, wind speeds didn't get too high -- generally 20-35 mph. The exceptions were gusts to 48 mph in Port Angeles and 41 mph in Oak Harbor as some strong west winds chased the storm down the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Around the Seattle area, Alki Point in West Seattle had a gust to 45 mph and Seattle was generally blowing in the 30-38 mph range.
The brunt of the storm was moreso felt in Oregon, where gusts exceeded 80 mph along the coast. Weather stations there reported sustained winds of 60 mph, with gusts of 102 mph at Cape Blanco; 85 mph on the Yaquina Bay Bridge; 88 mph at Lincoln City; 82 mph at Mount Hebo; and 73 mph at Florence. Wind gusts toppled trees into power lines causing scattered power outages reported from Depoe Bay south. About 65,000 people lost power in the region, including pockets of Portland.
It'll stay breezy through the morning but the winds are on their way down. We're also in between storms, rain-wise, so just a few showers expected today, although some of those showers could be heavy..
As for mountain snow, a Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 4 p.m. Monday. Another 6-12 inches fell overnight and despite an early morning lull, another round of heavy snow was expected later in the morning and through the afternoon, with another 6-12" of additional snow expected.
We're in between storms now, but yet another one is coming in Wednesday. This one looks more like the wet and warm systems of last week, so we'll have to keep our eyes on rising rivers once again.
The storm's center came ashore just north of Hoquiam late Sunday night, then pushed over the Puget Sound area and into the Cascades.
That brought gusty winds around the area early Monday morning -- especially to Lewis, Thurston and Pierce Counties, which was on the stronger south side of the storm.
The highest gust reported so far was a 63 mph gust in the Lake Lawrence area earlier Sunday night as the storm approached.
Tacoma reported a gust of 51 mph, which was more generally representative of the South Sound. Trees and power lines were downed in Thurston and Lewis Counties. I-5 was closed for about an hour early Monday morning near the U.S. 12 ramp on the Thurston/Lewis County line after a tree fell across all lanes.
Downed trees also blocked SR-161 a few miles north of Eatonville, and fallen power lines blocked SR-507 near Bucoda for a while. Both roads are now clear.
Auburn, Bonney Lake, Olympia, Orting, Sumner, Tenino and Yelm, to name a few, had scattered power outages early Monday morning. Puget Sound Energy says most of them were back on after a few hours, but some outages remained, and that was causing a handful of school delays and closures, including the closure of The Evergreen State College in Olympia.
With the northern half of the region on the calmer north side of the storm, wind speeds didn't get too high -- generally 20-35 mph. The exceptions were gusts to 48 mph in Port Angeles and 41 mph in Oak Harbor as some strong west winds chased the storm down the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Around the Seattle area, Alki Point in West Seattle had a gust to 45 mph and Seattle was generally blowing in the 30-38 mph range.
The brunt of the storm was moreso felt in Oregon, where gusts exceeded 80 mph along the coast. Weather stations there reported sustained winds of 60 mph, with gusts of 102 mph at Cape Blanco; 85 mph on the Yaquina Bay Bridge; 88 mph at Lincoln City; 82 mph at Mount Hebo; and 73 mph at Florence. Wind gusts toppled trees into power lines causing scattered power outages reported from Depoe Bay south. About 65,000 people lost power in the region, including pockets of Portland.
It'll stay breezy through the morning but the winds are on their way down. We're also in between storms, rain-wise, so just a few showers expected today, although some of those showers could be heavy..
As for mountain snow, a Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 4 p.m. Monday. Another 6-12 inches fell overnight and despite an early morning lull, another round of heavy snow was expected later in the morning and through the afternoon, with another 6-12" of additional snow expected.
We're in between storms now, but yet another one is coming in Wednesday. This one looks more like the wet and warm systems of last week, so we'll have to keep our eyes on rising rivers once again.