Rain, wind, and snow storms could be coming to Seattle soon

Batten down the hatches, the storms are coming.

The National Weather Service in Seattle is reporting Thursday morning that storms are moving into the Pacific Northwest that will “bring strong to damaging wind gusts, heavy rainfall, and well-below normal temperatures.”

KIRO 7 chief meteorologist Morgan Palmer wrote in his weather blog that clouds will increase around Puget Sound Thursday afternoon and “some light rain will start up late on Thursday or Thursday night and it’ll start to be a little breezy late evening.”

NWS Seattle reports that “much colder temperatures and lower snow levels are expected by early next week. While heavy precipitation is not expected, a rain/snow mix or even very light snow accumulations cannot be ruled out next week.”

Friday will be rain-day. We could see up to an inch in the central sound. North of Everett and south of Tacoma, up to three inches.

“With the blast of moisture coming in from nearly due west, the immediate Seattle-Bremerton-Bellevue corridor should receive the least amount of rain from this system, owing to an Olympic Mountain ‘rain shadow’ as the mountain range to the west blocks some of the heaviest precipitation and creates sinking air over the central Sound,” Palmer wrote.

Although experts are keeping a watchful eye on the rain, the real threat appears to be the coming winds.

Good afternoon! A surface low is forecast to impact our region Friday into next week bringing strong to damaging wind gusts, heavy rainfall, and well-below normal temperatures. (Thread…) ⚠️#wawx pic.twitter.com/kW5kry79V1

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 3, 2022

Palmer writes: “Winds will gust in the 15-25 mph range Thursday evening into Friday morning with some gusts over 30mph in spots. The strongest wind looks to start during the daylight hours Friday, and be particularly strong afternoon into mid-evening for most before subsiding late.”

Around the sound, winds could gust in the 30-45 mph range for many locations. Forecasters report, this would be the strongest wind so far this season.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca could see winds over 60 mph. Palmer reports, “This surge of wind could impact parts of western Snohomish and Skagit counties too. By Saturday morning at daybreak, the strongest winds are done most locations, except it stays windy east of the Cascades.”

All this wind and rain are expected to cause power outages, storm damage, and flooding in both the cities and low lying areas.

NWS tweets: “Behind this system, a much cooler airmass settles into the region bringing below normal temperatures into next week. There is significant uncertainty regarding wintry precipitation in the lowlands.”

In other words, snow in Seattle next week is still a question mark.

KIRO 7 chief meteorologist Morgan Palmer contributed to this report.