Fierce windstorm headed our way
By Sandi Doughton
Seattle Times staff reporter
Hang onto your garbage cans and stock up on batteries.
While many folks are still mopping up from Wednesday’s big blow, an even stronger windstorm is headed for Western Washington tonight.
Or as University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass puts it, we’re about to be stung by the “poisonous tail” of a nasty low-pressure system.
“There’s absolutely no doubt this storm will happen,” he said. “The only question is how strong will it get.”
For the Puget Sound region, the National Weather Service (NWS) is forecasting sustained winds up to 40 mph, and gusts up to 65 mph. For the Strait of Juan de Fuca, winds will average 50 to 60 mph and gust up to 90 mph.
The highest gusts in Seattle on Wednesday were 47 mph, according to the NWS.
“It has the potential to be a memorable storm,” said NWS meteorologist Dennis D’Amico.
Inauguration Day storm
On Jan. 20, 1993, the day Bill Clinton was sworn in as president, one of the strongest storms in recent years lashed Western Washington.
• Winds reached 88 mph in Seattle and 95 mph in Hood Canal.
• Six people were killed.
• 700,000 utility customers were left without power.
• Damage was estimated at more than $100 million.
Source: Seattle Times archives
The winds should start picking up this afternoon, and peak overnight.
The winds will be significantly stronger than those that swept through the region Wednesday, disrupting power to thousands, uprooting trees and slowing the morning commute.
In fact, the low-pressure system approaching the coast is forecast to be more intense than the one that triggered 1993′s Inauguration Day windstorm, which left six people dead, knocked out power to 700,000 homes and did more than $100 million in damage throughout the region. But this time the storm’s path is slightly different, which might weaken the winds, Mass said.
It all depends on where that tail hits.
It’s not the center of the low-pressure system that really kicks up the air, but the long tail that drags after it, Mass explained. Pressure changes rapidly in the tail, which creates the most powerful winds.
With the center of the approaching low projected to pass slightly to the north, the tail is well-positioned to lash the Puget Sound region.
“The path is crucial,” Mass said. “It has to go north of us to get the strong winds.”
While any forecast comes with uncertainty, all the computer models agree that winds are coming, D’Amico said. “But there’s still a little leeway on the timing and position of the storm.”
Though 40-mph winds are sufficient to cause considerable damage, this week’s winds have already knocked most of the remaining leaves off the trees, Mass said. Bare trees are less likely to be uprooted. Weak branches have also been “pruned” by previous storms.
Tree branches downed by high winds on Wednesday were responsible for numerous power outages, mostly in North Seattle, said Seattle City Light spokesman Peter Clarke. As of 5 p.m., only about 200 City Light customers were still without power, down from the 13,000 customers affected by outages earlier in the day.
Northgate Mall and several Seattle schools were without power for at least part of the day.
About 22,000 Puget Sound Energy electrical customers were without power in scattered areas throughout King County at the peak of the winds, but the number had been halved by the afternoon, said Dennis Smedsrud, Puget Sound Energy spokesman.
In Snohomish County, about 6,000 utility customers were without power at the height of the winds, mainly in parts of Bothell, Maltby and parts of Monroe and Clearwater, said Snohomish County Public Utility spokesman Neil Neroutsos. The number was down to about 200 by 6 p.m. Wednesday, he said.
In the Rose Hill area of Kirkland, a fallen power line ignited natural gas in an underground pipe, pushing flames about 10 feet out of a utility-access cover. The Kirkland Fire Department had to be called to control the blaze, said Smedsrud.
Also on the Eastside, at least two homes were damaged by falling trees, one in the Juanita area and one in Sammamish.
In Tukwila, a 70-foot evergreen tree fell onto a school bus on Highway 99 south of Highway 509. No children were on the bus. The driver, a 31-year-old Renton man, swerved to miss the tree and lost control of the vehicle before coming to rest in a ditch, he said. He suffered minor injuries and was taken to Swedish Medical Center, said State Patrol Trooper Jeff Merrill. The driver was cited for driving with a suspended license and for failing to have the proper license for driving a school bus, Merrill said.
In downtown Seattle, a chain hooked to a tower crane at a construction site spun in high winds, smashing glass panels on the adjacent Bank of California building, said Scott Holbrook, operations manager for Turner Construction. The crane is designed to spin in the wind to lessen wind resistance, Holbrook said, explaining that the brakes were intentionally left off Tuesday night. But the chain should have been removed, he said.
“I saw it actually whack the building … and I could see debris fly off,” said Frank Cordell, an attorney whose office is on the 40th floor of a building at 1001 Fourth Ave.
Harbor Patrol officers rescued a windsurfer from Lake Washington after heavy winds snapped the mast on his sailboard, according to Seattle police. The man, who was windsurfing east of Magnuson Park, was pushed about a half-mile north by the wind just after 1 p.m., said police spokesman Jeff Kappel. The man was swimming toward Kirkland when he was pulled from the water by police, Kappel said. The man was not injured.
Unrelenting wind, cold whip Pacific Northwest
SEATTLE, Washington (AP) — Residents of the Pacific Northwest struggled to stay warm Saturday after the worst windstorm in more than a decade knocked out power to more than 1.5 million homes and businesses and killed at least six people.
Nearly 700,000 customers in Washington and Oregon still had no power Saturday, and utilities said some might have to wait into next week for their lights to go back on.
Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency, and with temperatures expected to drop over the weekend, officials warned people not to use outdoor grills, propane heaters or other carbon monoxide-producing equipment indoors.
Firefighters in Kent found 33 people from four families suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning Friday night, fire Capt. Kyle Ohashi said. They had taken their barbecues inside to cook or heat their apartments as temperatures dipped into the 30s.
All were expected to survive, Ohashi said.
In Oregon, a family of six was sickened by carbon monoxide from a generator set up in a garage in Gresham, police said. Three children were hospitalized in critical condition late Friday, while one child and both parents were listed in good condition.
Wind gusted to a record 69 mph early Friday at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the old mark of 65 mph set in 1993. Wind was clocked at 113 mph near Mount Rainier.
Power was knocked out at one of the airport’s concourses, canceling dozens of flights. Flights were also canceled at Portland International Airport in Oregon, and Amtrak canceled service between Seattle and Portland because downed trees and mudslides blocked the tracks.
Two people were killed in Washington in traffic accidents involving windblown trees, while one died after getting trapped in her flooded basement. A fourth person was killed in his sleep by a tree that fell on his home. On the Oregon coast, an elderly couple died in a fire caused by candles they were using for light.
Puget Sound Energy, Washington’s largest private utility, had restored power to about 260,000 customers by Saturday afternoon but 440,000 others were still without power, according to the company.
It would be “several days — definitely through the weekend,” before everyone was restored, PSE spokeswoman Martha Monfried said. The utility had lost more than half of its transmission system, and crews struggled in the mountains to reach downed lines that carry the electricity from Columbia River dams.
More than 57,100 customers of Seattle City Light remained without power at midday Saturday, down from a peak of 175,000, and 15,000 were still blacked out in the Snohomish County Public Utility District north of Seattle.
In Oregon, Portland General Electric said it had about 82,000 customers without power Saturday morning, and Pacific Power said about 32,500 of its customers still had no service.
The storm was the most intense to hit the region since the Inauguration Day storm of January 20, 1993, which killed five people and caused about $130 million in damage, said Clifford F. Mass, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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