The front edge of an expected very strong windstorm was beginning to batter the Washington Coast late Friday evening.

Gusts as of 10 p.m. -- just the early beginnings of the storm -- were 56 mph in Hoquiam, 44 in Forks, and 42 mph in Friday Harbor. Gusts as high as 70-75 mph are possible along the coast overnight.

Friday evening forecast models are all in pretty close agreement that the system is still poised to make landfall early Saturday morning along the central Vancouver Island shores as a very strong storm (for you weather geeks out there, it's looking like the center pressure will be around 976-980 mb when it makes landfall), bringing the potential for several downed trees and power lines, as well as widespread power outages. In all, this is looking like the strongest widespread wind event in western Washington in 7 years (March 2, 1999 was our last big one.)

HIGH WIND WARNINGS are now in effect for all of Western Washington through Saturday evening, meaning high winds gusting to at least 58 mph are imminent.

As I mentioned, strong winds were beginning to pick up along the coast and were expected to increase in the Northwest Interior (that's roughly Everett north to the Canadian Border, and west to Port Townsend, including San Juan and Island Counties) toward early Saturday morning. Here, southeast winds could be 30-45 mph with gusts to 55-65 mph through the morning and midday hours.

(Note that at this point, the greater Seattle and Tacoma areas are still somewhat wind-sheltered as the Olympic Mountains block a direct wind path to the low.)

The low is then pegged to cross over Vancouver Island and into mainland B.C. Saturday late morning through early afternoon. It's when it's due north of the I-5 corridor that the strong south winds will pick up in the greater Seattle, Tacoma, and central/southern Kitsap Peninsula areas. We're still expecting south winds of 20-35 mph with gusts of 45-60 mph -- perhaps a little stronger than earlier thought.

This also includes the Strait of Juan de Fuca for a westerly wind Saturday midday and afternoon of 30-40 mph gusting to 60 mph as the front passes.

Adding to the problem is that the ground is very saturated from the recent rains. So it won't take as much wind to knock over trees as usual. Or, put another way, what normally would take a 60 mph to knock over might only need 40 mph right now. So even though on the surface, this storm might not be as strong as some past historical storms, the damage could be greater than we would normally expect with a storm of this size.

Utility crews are at the ready to try and repair any damage as quickly as possible -- especially with the Super Bowl coming Sunday afternoon. Other tips you can do now is to make sure you have batteries for flashlights and non-perishable food to last a few days in case the power is out. Also, it might be a good idea to make sure any loose objects like trash cans and lawn furniture are either brought inside or tightly secured.

The low should pass off to our east by Saturday night, and winds should gradually subside to under 25 mph by early Sunday morning.

By midday Sunday, this is all gone and we're just left with some lingering showers.

Aside from the wind, this storm will also bring another round of heavy rain, so we'll have to keep an eye out for more urban flooding problems. But this storm is moving fast enough that we're not expecting the rain to last too long.

Long range forecasts show once we get past this storm, that's it for a while, as we head into what appears to be at least a week-long dry streak. We'll sure have earned it!