Hot, wet and windy weather pattern may cause outages, river flooding

On By Littum

WESTERN WASHINGTON — A warm, wet and windy weather system is moving into Western Washington, where the first atmospheric river-type disturbance will begin Tuesday afternoon.

The pattern is one that is expected to continue all the way through Christmas, said KOMO News Meteorologist Shannon O’Donnell.

National Weather Service (NWS) said on his forecast talk page the strong system will bring breezy conditions to the area, with local power outages possible.

The highest gusts will be along the coast, Admiralty Inlet and north along the water, with a high wind warning in effect around Long Beach. A wind advisory is in place for the rest of the state’s Pacific coast along with the San Juans, the Northwest Interior, and gusts up to 40 to 50 mph near Oak Harbor, Bellingham Bay and Lopez Island.

Washington State Ferries warned that windy conditions could delay or cancel some sailings Tuesday and Wednesday, and advised riders sign up for route alertsespecially those traveling on the Port Townsend/Coupeville and San Juan Islands routes.

There is also concern about coastal flooding.

The NWS said winds will peak Tuesday night before slowly easing Wednesday morning, except for Whidbey Island, where it will remain breezy.

In the mountains, snowfall has the potential to change to freezing rain as a warm front moves in and spikes snow levels well above pass levels.

NWS forecasters say during the possible transition to freezing rain Tuesday afternoon into evening, up to 0.10-0.20″ of ice could accumulate.

If freezing rain does fall, it could last until early Wednesday.

If that’s not enough excitement for weather watchers, the NWS said an “active” weather pattern is expected in Western Washington over the next one to two weeks.

O’Donnell said as the first official day of winter arrives early Saturday, temperatures will climb into the mid-50s to near 60 in some places, making for an unusually high snow level for December. The snowmelt could mean that the area’s rivers will rise and possibly flood.

Looking ahead, O’Donnell said so far, computer models point to another storm on Monday.