After a windy few hours to begin Friday, a similar setup will bring another windy day to select parts of Washington.
The setup that is bringing gusty winds to the South Sound is illustrated below in the UW forecast model for 4 PM Saturday.
Wind will be forced through South Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and a gap in the Cascades near Wenatchee.
Below, the blend of 5 forecast models for Puyallup. This shows the forecast winds (big numbers are sustained winds, small numbers are gusts, arrows are wind direction).
Forecasts show winds gusting 30-40 mph in Puyallup. Winds will lessen, but still gust 20-35 mph through Sunday afternoon.
North of Puyallup and closer to the water (Tacoma, Federal Way, Des Moines), winds will gust 35-45 mph.
The strongest winds, gusting 40-60 mph, will occur around the Strait and near Wenatchee.
Expect the peak winds in the South Sound to occur between 9 AM and 10 PM Saturday.
Additionally, some rain can be expected with this system, mainly before noon on Saturday. The UW model below shows expected precipitation through 4 PM Saturday.
Notice that Puget Sound is still in the rain shadow due to northwesterly flow. Expect light rain, totaling 0-0.2 inches on Saturday. For areas outside of the rain shadow, totals will be higher, as illustrated by the map.
The lowland rain will be mountain snow this weekend, with the greatest totals from King County northward.
Expect totals of 8-24 inches at the passes, with 2-4 feet at high elevations.
Now...I'm sure that some of you are wondering about the potential of much colder weather and small chances of lowland snow over the next week or so.
For now, it is likely that we will have cold nights, with morning lows in the 20s. Accumulating snow can't be ruled out, but that chance is too small right now.
One thing is certain...I will have plenty more blogs talking about the cold weather.
No comments:
Post a Comment