Story Published:
Jan 31, 2006 at 1:37 PM PDT
Story Updated:
Aug 31, 2006 at 2:11 AM PDT
SEATTLE - Sure, most of the focus around here lately has been on the big football game coming up in Detroit, but it seems Mother Nature opened up her entire weather playbook over western Washington Tuesday night.
Every single weather element that can possibly happen around here -- did happen over a span of about 12 hours Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Run down the checklist with me:
Wind? Check
This was the storm's calling card, as it brought strong winds of 25-35 mph, gusting to 50-60 mph in some places. The winds knocked out power to about 10,000 Seattle City Light customers, mostly in the Alki, Lake City, Skyway and Tukwila areas, early Wednesday morning.
Puget Sound Energy says it had about 20,000 outages Tuesday night -- mostly in Thurston and Whatcom Counties. Most of the service had been restored Wednesday morning. Other outages were reported along the coast and Olympic Peninsula.
We also got numerous reports of trees down across the area.
Here are some of the peak gusts:
Forks: 69 mph
Yelm: 64 mph
Bellingham: 60 mph
Ocean Shores: 55 mph
Friday Harbor: 51 mph
Alki Beach: 46 mph
Seattle (Sea-Tac) 45 mph
Shelton: 45 mph
West Point (Magnolia): 45 mph
Everett: 41 mph
Bremerton: 36 mph
Tacoma: 32 mph
The winds were easing back by Wednesday morning.
Rain? Check
Heavy rains also fell across the area for what seemed like the umpteenth time. Anywhere from 1/3 to a full inch of rain was measured across the Puget Sound area. That caused some more urban flooding problems again in Bothell near 228th Street, where water was overflowing out of retention ponds.
FLOOD WARNINGS also remain in effect for the Chehalis and Skokomish Rivers.
Mountain Snow? Check
Another 1-2 feet of snow was falling in the Cascade Mountains. The Winter Storm Warning ended Wednesday morning as the really heavy snow had abated, but a SNOW ADVISORY was issued for the remainder of the day for another 6-11" possible by the evening.
The National Weather Service put out its bi-monthly mountain snowpack statement and the numbers are staggering. Almost all ski resorts have over 100" of snow, with Mt. Baker leading the way at 177 inches. Stevens has 125" while Snoqualmie has 112" (Last year at this time? 10"). These numbers are roughly 40-45 percent above normal -- Crystal Mountain is at 181 percent of normal! (They only had 13" this time last year)
You can see the entire list at this link.
Lowland Snow? Check that too
This crazy pattern also brought some lowland snow to the eastern slopes of the Olympic Mountains.
We received reports of lowland snow Tuesday evening, mainly in the Port Townsend/Chimacum/Port Hadlock and Poulsbo areas in the north, and the Seabeck/Belfair areas to the south.
This is a localized effect where air is rolling up the eastern slopes of the Olympic Mountains, then condensing into a heavier rain. However, that heavy rain is artificially dragging down the snow levels to the ground over there. Read more about that in our Weather FAQ.
Most folks had just a dusting to an inch, although we got one report of 5" in Lake Cushman.
Well, At Least There Weren't Thunderstorms
What? Those Too?!?!
Just to make sure she had all her bases covered, Mother Nature then pushed a strong line of thunderstorms across the northern third of the area around midnight that brought vivid lightning and hail.
The National Weather Service said they even detected rotation in the clouds via radar, and said had it been daylight, they would not have been surprised to hear reports of funnel clouds across the area.
So let's see -- wind, rain, flooding, lowland snow, mountain snow, thunderstorms, hail, and (maybe) funnel clouds. I can't think of anything she missed
Except, perhaps, some sunshine :)
You
