Click on your power company for the latest numbers and power outage maps. Seattle City Light, Snohomish County, Puget Sound Energy, Tacoma Utilities, Clallam County, Grays Harbor, San Juan Islands, Clark County, Mason County, Cowlitz County, and Lewis County.
‘A burst of heavy precipitation’ takes aim at North Sound
Dec 27, 2022, 9:54 AM | Updated: Dec 28, 2022, 9:15 am
Wind, rain are contributing to power outages, flooding. (Getty Images)
(Getty Images)
The rains and wind are not over yet. The National Weather Service in Seattle is saying ‘a burst of heavier precipitation’ is coming to the North Sound overnight.
Heads up, North Puget Sound! A burst of heavier precipitation will impact Whidbey Island, as well as western Snohomish and Skagit Counties shortly. Strong westerlies are already ongoing behind it and will follow suit. #wawx pic.twitter.com/GfuBVlxqD6
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) December 28, 2022
Meanwhile, power outages are growing across the region. Thousands are without power.
Pierce County substations restored, power returns to thousands
“Crews are out in full force; however, high winds are ramping up again today and expected to continue through early Wednesday morning. Today’s windstorm has the potential to slow our restoration efforts and cause new outages to occur across our service area. We’re prepared to respond to new outages as soon as it’s safe to do so,” Puget Sound Energy said in a storm alert on Tuesday morning.
Jenn Strang with Seattle City Light says they may have to pause restoration efforts if winds make it unsafe for their crews on the ground.
“We actually lucked out with the ice storm, we were prepared for a much worse outcome. And it actually ended up working in our favor that we had very few outages,” Strang said. “And with the conditions being as they were, all of our crews were able to stay inside and off the streets. And so everyone was well rested and enjoyed their holiday. And now we are ready to go and get to work.”
There are also Flood Watches in effect for most of the region due to high tides and heavy rain.
Morgan Palmer wrote on the KIRO 7 weatherblog:
Winds at the south coast are over 50mph and those strong winds in the 30-40mph range with higher gusts will spread inland past Olympia and into the Seattle area by mid-evening. Tree damage and power outages will occur, but perhaps not as widespread as previously feared as the strongest winds over 50mph will be less common around the metro areas.
Farther north, a strong push of westerly winds will bring gusts of 50mph or stronger for Whidbey Island with chances those winds will also impact parts of Snohomish and Skagit counties.
By morning, we’ll have blustery winds and some rain but calming and somewhat drier weather by afternoon. Some sunshine is possible late. Highs will be in the 40s.
For the mountains, snow will increase later this evening and snow will be heavy through Wednesday morning, tapering to snow showers tomorrow afternoon. A Winter Weather Advisory is out for the Cascades and more than ten inches of snow could fall from tonight through Wednesday.
“A few things – One, prepare in advance, make sure that you have fresh batteries and your flashlights [and] any devices that you might need, charge them up now and keep them charged and use them sparingly,” Strang said. “I know that you might feel when a power outage occurs that, you want to entertain yourself with your telephone, but keep that for emergency uses only or just to check in to see if there are weather updates or outage updates.”
KIRO Newsradio’s Sam Campbell and KIRO 7 Pinpoint Weather contributed to this report
