The Calm Before the Storm in Western Washington

P

Pat Anderson

New member
We are apparently in for it today through tomorrow. It is clear and calm right now, very cold. Snoqualmie, North Bend and Fall City, among a lot of other towns, are the "East Puget Sound lowlands." What happens to us is not quite the devastation of a hurricane, but trees blow down knocking down power lines, power goes out, and especially if we get a bunch more snow, we could be in for a rough go. The generator is gassed. Hard to believe looking outside right now...


URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
1120 AM PST FRI DEC 19 2008

EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-
1120 AM PST FRI DEC 19 2008

...HIGH WIND WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM SATURDAY TO 4 PM PST SUNDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SEATTLE HAS ISSUED A HIGH WIND WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 9 AM SATURDAY TO 4 PM PST SUNDAY. THIS WARNING UPGRADES THE HIGH WIND WATCH WHICH HAD BEEN IN EFFECT.

STRONG WINDS WILL DEVELOP OVER THE EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS ON SATURDAY MORNING AND INTENSIFY ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON. THIS WIND EVENT WILL PEAK ON SATURDAY NIGHT AND THEN SUBSIDE ON SUNDAY.

AT THE HEIGHT OF THIS EVENT SUSTAINED WINDS COULD REACH 50 TO 70 MPH WITH PEAK GUSTS OF 70 TO 90 MPH. THE STRONGEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO IMPACT COMMUNITIES IN EASTERN KING COUNTY SUCH AS NORTH BEND...MAPLE VALLEY AND ENUMCLAW. HOWEVER...STRONG WINDS COULD EXTEND ALL THE WAY WEST TO NEAR LAKE WASHINGTON AND THE HIGHWAY 167 CORRIDOR. ALONG THE I-405 AND HIGHWAY 167 CORRIDORS...WINDS OF 30 TO 40 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 60 MPH ARE POSSIBLE.

THIS EVENT COULD RIVAL A SIMILAR FOOTHILLS WIND STORM FROM EARLY DECEMBER 2003. DURING THAT EVENT...NUMEROUS TREES WERE BLOWN OVER...BLOCKING RESIDENTIAL STREETS AND MAJOR HIGHWAYS ALIKE. POWER WAS KNOCKED OUT TO MANY RESIDENCES AND BUSINESSES FOR AS MUCH AS A WEEK. PEOPLE NEED TO PREPARE NOW FOR MAJOR DISRUPTION RESULTING FROM THIS WINDSTORM. BE SURE TO HAVE ENOUGH SUPPLIES ON HAND TO LAST FOR SEVERAL DAYS SHOULD YOU BE STRANDED AT HOME. BY LATE SATURDAY MORNING...IT MAY BE TOO LATE TO PREPARE.

IN ADDITION...WIND CHILL READINGS DURING THIS EVENT MAY BE NEAR ZERO WITH AIR TEMPERATURES IN THE MID TO UPPER 20S. CONSIDER SAFE WAYS TO KEEP YOUR FAMILY WARM IF YOUR POWER IS KNOCKED OUT FOR A PROLONGED PERIOD.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A HIGH WIND WARNING MEANS THAT A SEVERE HIGH WIND EVENT IS IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. SUSTAINED WINDS OF AT LEAST 50 MPH...OR GUSTS OF 75 MPH OR HIGHER WILL OCCUR ACROSS THE LOWLANDS. RESIDENTS AND LOCAL OFFICIALS IN THE WARNED AREA SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR WIDESPREAD DAMAGE AND POWER OUTAGES THAT COULD LAST FOR MORE THAN A WEEK.


__._,_.___
 
Like Olga Symphony says,

:note
Not a stove in the world is going to do you any good
Without wood. Firewood.
We could
Be out chopping more wood.
:note
 
For all of you visual folks,


sat_isobar_map.gif


Notice the high pressure over lower British Columbia. About 1040. The temps are in the teens.

Now, the low out over the pacific, about 1003. Warm and wet. This is a fairly impressive pressure gradient. Could be a very interesting 24 hours. Winds, heavy snow, freezing rain. :xseek Get out the candles!

Robbi
 
I put cloths the washer last night and did not put them in the dryer. Just go up and had to pry the frozen cloths out of the washer. just a block of ice.

We are at the far top end of the coming wind storm and should not get it as bad as pat. But the gen set in the trailer is all hooked up and ready to go. I have a cord that goes from the camper to the furnace to run heat for the house. As for the fridge, I will just put all that stuff out side.
 
starcrafttom":1zsqpd3e said:
As for the fridge, I will just put all that stuff out side.
Click to expand...

A neighbor, back in NJ did that once. One morning I woke up, got my coffee, and looked out to see a bear having a feast on the neighbor's back deck. :shock:
 
dotnmarty":14z7skz9 said:
starcrafttom":14z7skz9 said:
As for the fridge, I will just put all that stuff out side.
Click to expand...

A neighbor, back in NJ did that once. One morning I woke up, got my coffee, and looked out to see a bear having a feast on the neighbor's back deck. :shock:
Click to expand...

Are you sure it wasn't just a "Piney"? :wink
 
The good news is that we didn't lose power and it appears (for now) that power outages in the area are minimal. The wind also appears to be letting up (at least at my house). The bad news is that we have probably 5-6" more snow on top of about 4". My little cul de sac never gets plowed so I'll probably be out helping shovel a lane to the top.

I was able to get around yesterday AM with chains on the car and the house is stocked up in case we can't get around for a few days. Looks like a good day to clean up around the house.
 
Very strange how the effects of this storm this vary by area. We got no new snow, as far as I can see - this morning it looks mainly like the existing snow blew around and drifted. The winds made a deafening rushing sound up high all night long but very little down on the ground. A quick survey this morning, I don't see any trees down in our immediate vicinity, but a tree must have fallen on the power line up to our house, we are without power and running on our trusty 10 year old Costco 5kw Generac generator - boy, has that paid for itself, we have used it every single winter at least once and sometimes more. Unfortunately I did not have enough circuits on the transfer switch to power the den, where the DSL modem and wireless router live, so they are running on the inverter on my big Jumpstart (17 amp hour). Must have the necessitities, food, water, heat and internet!
 
We didn't get hit to hard. About 7-9 inches of snow at the house, but...

It's 24 degrees and starting to rain. The layer of cold air is only a few hundred feet, so the rain is falling through, then freezing when it hits. There is about a 1.2 inch crust of ice on everything at the moment. More to come. Oh sugar foot!

I hope everyone up in the Seattle area is OK. Pat, keep the reports coming.

Regards,

Steve
 
Wow, it's snowing again. We never got the wind last night on Mercer Island, but when I was driving home from Crystal through Enumclaw yesterday afternoon/evening it was blowing pretty hard. We picked up a few more inches of snow, and may pick up some more today at the house. So far no trouble getting around, even on unplowed roads and the steep hills down to the water. The AWD BMW does great in this stuff!
 
Icing roads from the Pacific to the Atlantic!!!!!!! That's global warming for ya !!!!!
My stock pick for the year is CMP. They sell salt and sand in the US and Europe for maintaining roads. Something we can't do with out even in a bad economy.
It's getting to be a good skiing here in Sun Valley Idaho.
Can't wait for April and May to get back on the Tomcat and into The San Juans.

Gary
 
I spent 2 hours today shoveling my sidewalk, driveway and part of the road from my house to the top of the hill. I'm about 1/3 done with what I need to do if I want to get the whole cul de sac road done.

While I was shoveling, I was thinking Roger on Sensei needs to plant beets next year instead of potatoes. Beet juice is a good de-icer and it's much safer for the environment. Given that the storm drains on my street drain to salmon streams, I wish I had a lot of beet juice de-icer available.
 
I went down to check on C-Run and it was so calm that I decided to take a boat ride. It was beautiful out on the water, until the next snow storm came through.

IMGP2283.jpg

IMGP2289.jpg
Had to break ice to get out of the bay.

IMGP2293.jpg

IMGP2299.jpg

The heater kept me warm, but when I started to get ice forming in the cockpit, I decided to come home. Eat your heart out Jim. :wink:

Robbi
 
rogerbum":1492oqbl said:
While I was shoveling, I was thinking Roger on Sensei needs to plant beets next year instead of potatoes. Beet juice is a good de-icer and it's much safer for the environment. Given that the storm drains on my street drain to salmon streams, I wish I had a lot of beet juice de-icer available.
Click to expand...

So Roger, what's in the beet juice to make it a de-icer. The only thing I know about beets is the conversion to sugar and when you parachute into a field of them its like landing on a bunch of rounded rocks. Would like to be convinced if used on the roads of Wyoming we wouldn't be sliding on red ice instead of black or white ice :lol: Here on the roads they use a 90
% sand 10% salt mix when the vehicles can't keep on the road.

Jay
 
Beautiful images, Robbi. You may recall that I did do some boating in the snow earlier in the year...

LQSnowE.jpg

You know what they say about "any day out on the water..." :D

Happy Holidays,
Jim
 
About a total of 12" of snow between Sat afternoon and this AM. I've got the driveway cleared but the road up the hill is a mess. We're definitely not driving today.

NotTowingToday.sized.jpg
 
Too strange. The big windstorm never materialized, and the deep snow fell at Roger's house, not out in the Cascade foothills! Other than power being out for a few hours, we have come through great so far.
 
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