Windstorm Tonight

 Current satellite imagery provides an ominous view. Two strong storms of our coast with an almost eye like feature! The southern one is our concern at the moment. It will approach the Washington/B.C coast tonight bringing heavy rain and more importantly, strong, damaging winds.

As the low pressure system makes landfall tonight, it will cause a sharp pressure gradient bringing strong southerly winds to much of the area. The areas of most concern include: the coast, the Olympics and the islands. It is important to note that small changes in the track of this system could lead to big implications as to which areas receive the most impact. At this time the Seattle and central Puget sound will most likely be spared from the worst of the winds, but if the storm were to take a more inland track then it wouldn't be the same story.


Before we get caught up in the wind (no pun intended), let's not forget about the rain. As mentioned earlier this system will bring a lot of rain over the weekend. Most areas will receive very respectable totals by the end of Sunday. I would go with about an inch of rain by the end of the weekend for most areas, and higher amounts in the Olympics. 





After these systems pass, a trough settles over us ushering in much cooler and unstable air. On Monday we will see a lot more showers in convective nature over the area, but we'll talk about that on another post. 

For now, make sure phones are charged and prepare for power outages!

Have a great weekend!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Widespread Lowland Snow Incoming!!

Image
 Well it is going to be an interesting 48 hours coming up. We will have snow, ice, sleet, rain, wind, basically everything on the weather bingo card in the next 2 days.  A strong and moist Pacific system will move into the area tomorrow evening, spreading precipitation into a very cold and dry air mass. A ripe set up for a snowstorm in the PNW.  Current satellite imagery shows moisture moving into Oregon.  This moisture will spread north and with the cold temperatures in place, it will bring wintry weather to the lowlands of Oregon and Washington. Winter and ice storm warnings are out for Portland and the Willamete valley. This storm will work effectively to scour out cold air in the upper levels so I expect precipitation type to quickly transition to freezing rain and sleet south of Salem. However, upper levels should stay just cold enough for precipitation to remain snow north of Wilsonville.  The low will pull east winds out of the gorge, keeping things very ...
Read more

Friday Night Update

Image
The much talked about potential for lowland snow is finally here and we are in the range where we can talk about specifics. Tonight, a cold front is crossing the area, evident in satellite imagery.  Behind this cold front is much colder air which will filter into the area tonight. Temps are sitting in the upper 40's currently in much of the Puget Sound, by about 2 AM, much of the area will be in the 30's and a gradual cool down will continue. At this time there are several chances for lowland snow, but accumulations will be spotty as the system is more showery in nature and not organized.  There will be several areas with a heightened potential for lowland snow and I will point it out on this little graphic.  Zone 1 is in Snohomish county and has a heightened potential for snow due to the convergence zone setting up over there tonight and into tomorrow. There is a chance this extends southwards briefly so some of northern King county could also see some snow. I expect abo...
Read more

Evening Update

Image
 We are very close to tonight's snow potential and models still have no idea what will happen. Looking at Sattelite imagery, the low pressure we have been tracking looks to be a bit north of Hoquiam. How north this low goes will determine which area gets the most moisture. Earlier this area looked to be King County and the Central Sound, but now this area may have shifted a bit northwest. Northern King County and the Kitsap peninsula.  As I said earlier, this looks to be a bit more widespread in terms of moisture, but temps look to be more marginal so elevation will definitely aid with snow. Looking at the graphic below, the area circled in blue will have the most access to moisture tonight. In this area, places above 500 feet should see 2-8 inches of snow. Below that, 1-3 inches of snow seems likely. Another wildcard going into tonight is the deformation band as the low passes to the south of us, the models are struggling to nail that feature but if it does form then areas un...
Read more