Nearly 600,000 in Washington state lose power

On By Littum

A powerful winter storm brought damaging winds and heavy rain to the Pacific Northwest, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of Washington homes and businesses.

The storm, known as a “bomb cyclone,” brought wind gusts recorded at 55 mph at Sea-Tac Airport and as high as 77 mph at Mount Rainier National Park on Wednesday, according to National Weather Service in Seattle.

The The National Weather Service’s weather forecast early Wednesday morning says that while this system has already produced “numerous power outages” and reports of tree damage, it is still expected to produce blizzard conditions throughout the Cascades.

The NWS office in Seattle says thunderstorms are possible along the coast Wednesday, and with the next front arriving Friday, unsettled weather could continue through the weekend and into early next week.

Snow forecast this week: Winter storm warning in PNW, snowfall in northern plains

Washington power outage map

According to one USA TODAY power outage trackerthere were about 597,000 power outages reported across Washington state at 7:31 a.m. ET.

There were over 465,000 outages reported in King County, over 75,000 reported in Snohomish County, and over 21,000 reported in Kitsap County, according to the outage tracker.

Gabe Hauari is a national trending news reporter at USA TODAY. You can follow him on X @GabeHauari or email him at [email protected].