Strong winds peak Friday afternoon, power outages and damage predicted
Nov 4, 2022, 11:54 AM | Updated: Nov 5, 2022, 7:54 am
Photo from Sam Campbell
Update (Nov. 5 at 7:49 a.m.):
As predicted, strong winds and heavy rain had an impact as thousands lost power across western Washington late Friday evening.
Original Story:
We’re in the middle of a classic Pacific Northwest storm. The winds will peak Friday afternoon and should continue throughout the night.
According to KIRO 7 chief meteorologist Morgan Palmer, “The strongest wind looks to start during the daylight hours Friday, and be particularly strong afternoon into early evening for most before subsiding late.”
Rain and wind could turn dangerous Friday afternoon
Forecasters predict gusts in the 35-50 mph range in many cities around the Sound. We are in the middle of a Wind Advisory that will last until 11:00 p.m. tonight.
Palmer writes, “This would be the strongest wind in many of these locations so far this fall, and with leaves on many trees still (soon to be stripped clean), that will add wind load.”
At last check of the Puget Sound Energy Outage Map, 2,000 customers have already gotten hit in the area.
“At the coast, winds could touch 55mph on Friday. Down the Strait of Juan de Fuca and through Whidbey Island, it’ll be gusty Friday but a late surge of westerly wind to 50+mph could occur late Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday morning,” Palmer said.
The National Weather Service issued a High Wind Warning for Island County and western Snohomish County for 8:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m., with gusts above 50 mph possible. This surge of wind could impact parts of western Snohomish and Skagit counties to very late Friday night and early Saturday morning.
The winds should die Saturday with the exception of the mountains.
Snoqualmie Pass was closed for a short time and has now reopened.
The weekend will be cold with highs in the 40s. “Snow levels will crash down to below 1,500 feet by Sunday, and while precipitation will begin to taper in the lowlands, it will continue to snow heavily in spots in the mountains where a Puget Sound Convergence Zone focuses snowfall,” Palmer reports.
KIRO 7 TV weather contributed to this story.
