Strong winds hit Western Washington, knock out power

Gusty winds are impacting Western Washington with power outages in some areas.

There are or were outages in west Bellevue, Bainbridge Island, Olympia, Silverdale and Sedro-Woolley. As of 6:35 a.m. Friday, about 1,800 people were without power.

The strongest winds were north of Everett this morning, where wind speeds were as high as 28 mph.

Related: Comparing hurricane wind speeds to Seattle’s strongest storms

A high wind warning is in effect for western Skagit and western Whatcom counties and the San Juans until 9 a.m.

Stronger wind is possible at the coast and the north interior, according to KIRO 7 Meteorologist Morgan Palmer. Those wind gusts could reach 50 mph in some spots.

By mid-evening Thursday, wind gusts over 40 mph were reported at Lopez Island, Forks and at Port Townsend. A weather station at Destruction Island, just off the central coast of Washington, clocked a wind gust of 60 mph.

A high wind warning is in effect for the coast lasting into Friday morning.

For morning commuters, especially those driving on bridges or elevated roadways, it will remain rather gusty.

While this isn’t expected to be a very damaging wind event, the fact that leaves remain on many trees adds to the wind load and the potential for small branches or weak trees to fall, causing power outages.

Meanwhile, travelers hoping to fly out of Sea-Tac to Florida’s east coast are out of luck, thanks to Hurricane Matthew. The hurricane has forced the cancellation of thousands of flights.