Washington’s neighbors asking same question about weak storm
Oct 17, 2016, 8:21 AM
This October was the wettest in Seattle's recorded history, according to the National Weather Service. (AP)
(AP)
The same question many Western Washington residents are asking after a lackluster weekend storm is being posed farther north.
Residents of British Columbia were surprised by how little damage the storm, which was being compared to historic weather events, did on Saturday.
Sure, the storm that blew in Saturday night did some damage — there were plenty of downed trees and power outages — but it was nothing compared to the Columbus Day storm or Hanukkah Eve storm.
Like many were doing in Washington state, people in B.C. were bracing for winds of 60 miles per hour or more. However, most of the lower mainland didn’t experience winds much higher than 40 mph, the Vancouver Sun reports.
“It didn’t pack as strong a punch as we expected,” Environment Canada meteorologist David Jones told the Sun.
What happened, according to local meteorologists, is this: the low pressure that ran up the West Coast intensified from Friday into Saturday, however, it was far weaker than originally predicted. Though there were strong winds, they were nothing compared to what people were preparing for.
Cliff Mass, atmospheric science professor at the University of Washington, says we shouldn’t blame the computer models. Though there was a chance for a terrible storm, the worst-case scenario was just one scenario. Mass says that around Friday it “was clear that there was no chance of a Columbus Day storm event.”
“A small track error … would radically change the forecast at any particular location,” Mass writes in his blog. “Such a small error was well within forecast uncertainty as revealed by our ensemble (many forecast) systems.”
Ted Buehner of the National Weather Service says the storm ended up tracking north, not far off the coast, rather than heading inland through the Puget Sound region and up to Vancouver, B.C.
“We dodged a bullet and should feel good about that and our community efforts to prepare and avoid being in harm’s way,” he told KIRO Radio.
“We have seen the unfortunate opinions voiced on social media about this weekend, yet there have also been a number of messages offering thanks for being proactive and helping the community avoid a bigger disaster,” Buehner said.
Forecasts for this week are calling for showers or scattered showers Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday is expected to be mostly dry. The rain returns Thursday and could last through Friday. Saturday is expected to be partly sunny.
The relatively calm weather this week will give everyone time to recover from the storm that didn’t happen.
Rough night here in the #PNW.#wawx #Seattle #seattlestorm pic.twitter.com/RZD3TeCMO6
— ((( Sam Blackman ))) (@drsam) October 16, 2016
Follow @https://twitter.com/mynorthwest
