December 17, 2012

Storm Update

Just a brief update.  The storm pretty much followed yesterday's model prediction.  The low center is now over the north Cascades and moving inland rapidly.  Here is the latest surface chart over western WA at 5 AM.  Strong winds have followed the low into the southern and central Sound, with winds gusting to 40-50 mph.  Also strong winds have pushed into the Strait.  We are just past the max winds in Puget Sound, with weakening to occur this morning.
The maximum winds (gusts) for the 24 h ending 5 AM for Washington and Oregon are shown below.  The Oregon coast got hammered with lots of places getting 50-60 mph winds, some more.  Some 40-50 mph gusts in the Willamette valley.

 For Washington, 60 mph+ along the coast, with 40-60 mph in the Strait.  40-50 mph gusts in southern Puget Sound, with higher winds (up to around 60 mph) in the southern Sound.

The biggest storm of the season so far (and I haven't even talked about snow in the mountains), but typical of the strongest storm we get each year.
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10 comments:

  1. AndrewMDecember 17, 2012 at 7:01 AM

    Perfectly sheltered near Suquamish - barely even breezy throughout.

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  2. John McBrideDecember 17, 2012 at 7:24 AM

    My barometer "bottomed" out, at least by visual verification, at 28.79. We had an inch of rain in our gauge. No unusual wind here in Wedgwood. Just a typical winter blow.

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  3. Michael SnyderDecember 17, 2012 at 7:58 AM

    54mph 1 NM west of KSEA in Nomrnady Park. At least 3 other gusts of 50+ mph as well.

    The wind has been rocking the house all night, its tough to sleep.

    Sometimes a 331' hill with a view of the sound is not a good thing :)

    But I wouldnt change it.

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  4. KevinDecember 17, 2012 at 8:51 AM

    Hi Cliff,

    It looks like there could be some heavy snow in parts of the lowlands this week. Would be great to hear your thoughts on that, when you have a moment.

    Thanks for the great blog btw.

    Kevin

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  5. LewisLucanBooksDecember 17, 2012 at 8:54 AM

    Location: 4 miles NNW of Onalaska. Close to Thousand Trails. SE of Chehalis. Elev. 620'. The storm wasn't too bad, here. In fact, the storm a couple of weeks ago was much worse. BUT, I have never seen my barometer fall so far, so fast. I'm seeing a bit of clearing here, at 9am. But, I'm in the Napavine Triangle, so I guess all bets are off. :-) .

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  6. David CuthbertDecember 17, 2012 at 10:10 AM

    Bainbridge ferry had some loading issues this morning due to the extraordinarily high tide from the low pressure. Cars were driving up into the ferry (pic), and the passenger walkway was out of service (pic).

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  7. michael medinaDecember 17, 2012 at 11:30 AM

    Where did you get those Google wind speed maps?

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  8. JoshDecember 17, 2012 at 2:27 PM

    Looks like they are expecting formation of a PSCZ tonight over its usual location, along with secondary formation further north, over Skagit County. Living right near Clearview, this could mean a good dose of snow for us. Bring it on!

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  9. JoshDecember 17, 2012 at 2:29 PM

    Goodness - sorry for the repeat posts. I thought I was messing up the captcha. Please disregard duplicates.

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  10. GlennDecember 17, 2012 at 4:00 PM

    Not too breezy here on Marrowstone Island before dawn. We've had more wind in other storms this year. I assume we were sheltered by the Olympics. Typical for us.

    Glenn

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