Incoming wind event to make for a dark and stormy (Saturday) night

I guess it’s apropos as we approach Halloween that things are about to go “bump” in the night.

A storm coming in for Saturday is starting to look a little more ornery for wind gusts. We’re still not talking major wind storm by any means, but we’re now getting into the threshold where maybe the few bumps and creaks in the night are followed by a few flickers, then darkness…

Spooooooky…. We even have owls hanging out and hooting in our nearby greenbelt… just what the night needs.  Coyotes too.

The day itself will feature frequent showers and fairly blustery winds gusting between 25-35 mph, maybe a few gusts to 40-45 along the coast.

A low pressure center will then roll its way across Vancouver Island Saturday evening into Saturday night. The track is actually pretty decent now to get windy weather but there are two factors limiting this storm from raising too many alarms.

For one, the storm’s strength isn’t too intense — about 990 mb (normal is 1013mb; big wind storms are usually under 980). Second, the low center looks a bit diffuse and not as well organized on some of the forecast models.

But still as is, I think we’ll see widespread gusts getting up into that 40-45 mph range with some of the hourly models suggesting the Tacoma, Olympia and the South Sound areas could even notch a few gusts around 50 mph.  NWS Seattle has now put out Wind Advisories now into Saturday night for pretty much all of Western Washington.

In the overall scheme of things, those wind speeds aren’t enough for major widespread impacts, but with trees still leafy and being better wind catchers, I would expect *some* power outages. (Run this storm through here in January when the trees are bare and we’d probably make it through unscathed).

The other part is the timing: the heart of the night. Winds will pick up I’d say sometime around 8-9 p.m. in the Seattle/Puget Sound/I-5 corridor, peaking like 10-11 p.m. into the few hours after midnight then taper off toward dawn.

So if you have somewhere to be Sunday morning, be sure to have a backup alarm like your cell phone that’s not dependent on power. And make sure your cell phones and other electronics are charged and have a flashlight or two handy.

It’ll still be cool, showery and blustery on Sunday — pass travelers watch for snow showers up there in the Cascades. But no overall rest for the weary. While Monday is trending dry-ish there seem to be more storms lurking out there potentially middle and again toward the end of the week. Don’t ask about Halloween :/