Published: November 12,2014
Strong winds broke out in parts of the Pacific Northwest Tuesday and Wednesday, prompting high wind warnings for parts of western Washington and northwest Oregon, injuring one person in Portland and blowing trees onto houses in the Seattle-Tacoma area. At least 66,000 customers were still without power Wednesday morning in the two states as winds continued to knock down trees and power lines.
The winds are the result of the same winterlike air mass that has plunged all the way south to the Gulf Coast and eastward into the Ohio Valley behind a powerful cold front. A powerhouse high-pressure zone over western Canada and the northern U.S. is also trying to literally push this frigid but shallow air through gaps in the Rocky Mountains and from there into the Northwest, where it faces a second obstacle in the form of the Cascade Range.
The high, whose central pressure was 1051 millibars (31.03 inches of mercury) over Canada's Northwest Territories Tuesday afternoon, has proven plenty strong enough to do just that. Winds began howling before sunrise Tuesday in the Columbia River Gorge just east of Portland, Oregon -- the most prominent gap in the Cascades, cutting a 4,000-foot-deep valley through the mountains.
Winds gusted as high as 66 mph at Crown Point, Oregon, just after 4 a.m. Tuesday according to a Weather Underground personal weather station. Powerful gusts continued throughout the day and night, and some 26 hours later Crown Point clocked a 79-mph gust at 6:22 a.m. Wednesday.
Farther west, sustained winds of 30 to 35 mph with gusts as high as 53 mph buffeted Portland International Airport, on the banks of the Columbia River, for much of the day Tuesday. Despite the rough winds, most afternoon flight arrivals to and departures from the airport were on schedule, according to the airport's website.
However, a bicyclist was seriously injured on Naito Parkway in downtown Portland Tuesday afternoon after being hit by a large tree felled by the strong winds.
KGW-TV said some 50,000 customers had lost power by 2 p.m. PST Tuesday in the Portland-Vancouver area. The outages knocked out traffic lights in downtown Vancouver, Washington:
By early Wednesday morning, Clark Public Utilities had whittled their outages down to about 4,000 customers in southwest Washington, while Portland General Electric reported 10,800 customers in the dark in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties.
Farther north, those cold easterly winds also cut through some of the passes through the Cascades in Washington, leading to winds that downed trees along the Route 410 corridor east of Tacoma, Washington, on Tuesday. Some fell on houses, as shown here:
KING-TV said some 25,000 customers lost power in western Washington Tuesday due to the winds. A peak gust of 59 mph was clocked in Enumclaw, where the White River exits the mountains into the Puget Sound lowlands.
Outages continued to mount Tuesday night and Wednesday morning as the winds continued. Puget Sound Energy said 52,000 customers were without power as of 7 a.m. PST Wednesday, mostly in Pierce and southern King counties. The utility said it had restored power to 130,000 customers, some of whom had lost power more than once.
PSE said some customers may not see power restored until Friday. This is an issue, considering bitterly cold temperatures have settled into the region. On Wednesday morning, a record low of 28 degrees was set at the Seattle National Weather Service forecast office, which broke the previous record set in 2000.
Just The Beginning: Complex Northwest Storm
Gusty winds knocked several trees on to I-90 in Denny Creek, Washington, prompting the closure of portions of the interstate on Wednesday. Wind gusts as high as 61 mph were observed Wednesday at Enumclaw, near the east Puget Sound lowlands in western Washington.High wind warnings are in effect for the Portland metropolitan area and are set to continue until Thursday morning. Localized gusts of 75 to 85 mph will continue to threaten western portions of the Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland. Gusts over 60 mph are possible in parts of the Portland area, especially the eastern suburbs closer to the gorge.
High wind warnings were issued for the Cascade foothills east of Seattle and Tacoma Tuesday but have since been downgraded to less serious wind advisories.
The strong gap winds are expected to subside Thursday morning -- but that won't be the end of the inclement weather.
(FORECAST: Seattle | Portland | Pendleton | Medford)
A storm system began moving into the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday night. It is transporting mild, moist Pacific air over the shallow, cold air mass near the ground. This could result in an unusually early spell of winterlike weather for the region. In fact, winter storm watches, warnings and advisories have already been issued for much of the Oregon, Idaho, and southern Washington state area. In addition, due to the threat of extremely gusty winds as well as wind-blown snow, blizzard warnings have been issued for the western Columbia River Gorge.
(NWS Winter Alerts: Washington | Oregon | Idaho | Nevada | Utah)
This will be a tough call for Portland and the northern Willamette Valley. The outcome will hinge on how cold it is when precipitation begins overnight Wednesday. It could be cold enough for several hours of freezing rain and/or sleet -- enough to cause treacherous road conditions for Thursday morning's rush, and in a worst-case scenario, more power outages.
However, it is also possible that the freezing rain will be confined more toward the Columbia Gorge, and that it will be mostly a cold rain for the Portland metro. Stay abreast of the forecast if you have travel plans or live in this area.
Farther east, freezing rain and snow are likely in the Columbia Gorge, affecting travel on Interstate 84. Snow will also affect the Cascades and areas immediately to the east in southern Washington and central and eastern Oregon, eventually spreading east into the Northern Rockies by the end of the week.
Snowfall amounts will not be extraordinary by winter standards, but will be rather impressive for mid-November. Given the cold weather preceding the storm and the potential for some sleet or freezing rain mixing in, untreated pavement could become quite slick.
Expect difficult driving conditions on Interstate 84 from the Columbia River Gorge eastward into Idaho, as well as U.S. Highways 20 and 26 from the Cascade passes of Oregon eastward across the rest of the state and into Idaho.
This is also bit early for snow -- the average first measurable snow in Pendleton, Oregon, and Yakima, Washington, comes in the final week of November. In Bend, Oregon, the average date of the first measurable snow is Nov. 17.
At this time we expect this late-week storm and its precipitation to stay just south of the Seattle area as well as Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90.
Stay with The Weather Channel and weather.com for the latest on the mess in the Pacific Northwest.
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