Twelve years ago today, a powerful storm pounded Washington state with rain and wind. Sea-Tac Airport recorded a wind gust of 69 mph, one of the strongest in its 73-year record. And the wind came shortly after setting a record of over 16 inches of rainfall in November. The wind combined with the saturated ground brought down thousands of trees and leftover 100,000 people without power.
On this anniversary another storm is headed our way and it will be breezy again, but nothing like it 2006.
It will be a windy evening, but this storm is much weaker than the Hannukkah Eve Storm. The pressure maps show the low in 2006 was much stronger and tracked closer to the state causing stronger winds. And although it has been wet, it is nothing like the deluge we received in 2006, so the ground is much less saturated making the trees more wind resistant.
Friday's front is likely to produce winds gusting into the 35-45 mph range south of Everett with stronger winds to the north – as usual. So it is likely that branches and a few trees may be brought down leading to spotty power outages. We will also get some heavy rain with the front, but it will be relatively brief and turn quickly to showers by this evening.
As we head into the overnight hours the showers will decrease, and winds will diminish. By Saturday morning the wind and showers will pretty much be over, and we should see some sunshine on Saturday. Be sure to enjoy it. Rain and breezy winds will return on Sunday.
