FastCast—Tuesday, Jan. 10 to Friday, Jan. 13:
After a windy and rainy day on Monday, we will have a weather break on Tuesday, with partly to mostly sunny conditions and highs in the low to mid 50s! That will change on Wednesday, with clouds increasing and rain arriving by evening. An atmospheric river will impact Western Washington from late Wednesday through late Friday. This will bring 1.25-2 inches of rain to the lowlands, 2.5-3.5 inches on the coast/in the mountains, and 0.25-1.25 inches in Eastern Washington, with the most north of I-90. Area rivers will rise, but not to flooding levels at this point. Areas near the foothills will be impacted by gap winds gusting 30-40 mph at times on Tuesday and Wednesday. Expect highs in the low to mid 50s and lows in the upper 30s to mid 40s.
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Continue reading the full blog below!
Monday was an active day across Western Washington, with strong winds and heavy rain at times, and even some thunderstorms on the coast and briefly in the Bothell area. There’s more about Monday at the end of the blog.
Tuesday will be a great break in the activity, with partly to mostly sunny conditions and highs in the low to mid 50s! How long has it been since we had a sunny day?!? The European model forecast is below, showing Tuesday’s highs.
Expect highs in the low to mid 50s for most of Western Washington! Eastern Washington will be stuck with colder temperatures, with highs only in the mid 30s to low 40s.
However, that will all change by late Wednesday. An atmospheric river is expected to impact Western Washington from late Wednesday through late Friday. In the European model forecast below, you can see the atmospheric river paralleling the Pacific Coast on Thursday. This forecast shows precipitable water, another way of saying the amount of water in the atmosphere.
This will be a big rain-maker for areas from California all the way into Southern British Columbia, and will bring higher rain totals to Western Washington than the previous storms that have only been clipping the region.
Below is the European model for total rainfall through Friday night. Note: 0.2-0.5 inches of this has already fallen across the region, since the forecast shown started Monday morning.
Factoring in rain that has already fallen, the European model shows 1.25-2 inches of rain for the lowlands, 2-3.5 inches for the coast and mountains, and 0.25-1.25 inches in Eastern Washington, most from I-90 northward.
Stay tuned for more information about this atmospheric river in Wednesday’s blog.
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Strong winds were the biggest impact of an interesting storm on Monday. A large low pressure system offshore spawned a small “spin-off low” that sucked winds out of the gaps in the Cascades and then produced 50-80 mph gusts on the coast. Below are peak gap winds in the metro area, mainly from Seattle south.
Locations prone to gap winds, such as Enumclaw, North Bend, and Sea-Tac Airport, gusted 45-55 mph.
This quick shot of strong gap winds brought a significant amount of power outages in the Puget Sound Energy service area, peaking with over 25,000 customers in the dark around midday. The Puget Sound Energy outage map from midday Monday is below.
The area from Enumclaw to Kent’s East Hill got hit the hardest, as did Sammamish and Issaquah. Why so many power outages for a few hours of winds? Gap winds come from the east, the opposite direction of the dominant S-SW winds typical to our region. This makes trees less resistant to these winds, causing more tree damage, and in turn, more power outages.
Looks like I can go for a nice walk today, and not get wet.
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