By Alex Sosnowski, Expert Senior Meteorologist
September 30,2013; 5:43PM,EDT
The first powerful winterlike storm of the season has been inundating the Pacific Northwest with torrential rain, damaging winds and dangerous seas. Former Typhoon Pabuk's moisture helped drench the area on Sunday and more rain will continue into the early part of this week.
The storm grew into a monster over the Gulf of Alaska earlier this past week, where it eventually stalled. Winds of 40 to 60 mph roared over the ocean, raising 15- to 30-foot seas. The storm approached the Northwest this past weekend wreaking havoc on the region.
Strong winds resulted in downed trees and power lines in both Washington and Oregon on Saturday and Sunday. A wind gust of 85 mph was measured at Hurricane Ridge in Clallam County, Wash., on Sunday evening.
The storm will continue to impact the region early this week, but conditions will gradually improve by midweek.
Rain, Flooding
The risk for urban and small stream flooding, rockslides and rises on the major rivers will continue through Tuesday. The heaviest rain fell over the weekend, but moisture will continue to stream in over the next couple of days allowing for more showers and rain. Flooding along the short-run rivers off the Olympics and Cascades is still possible as well.
Rounds of windswept rain, urban flooding and poor visibility will lead to travel delays along the I-5 corridor and potentially at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and others.
Rainfall Totals Since Friday Morning
Elsewhere, from western Oregon through western British Columbia, a general storm total of 2 to 4 inches of rain is forecast. Much less rain will fall over central and eastern Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, but some rain will fall on these areas. Enough rain could fall to end the risk of wildfires once and for all this season.
RELATED:
Local Seattle Area Forecast
Local Eugene, Ore., Area Forecast
Interactive Northwest Weather Radar
Wind
South to southwest winds will continue to be strong enough to down some trees, cause minor property damage and lead to power outages through early Tuesday.
Wind gusts this weekend already reached at least 80 mph across Washington, Idaho and Montana.
Because of the wind direction from the south and southwest, this will not be the worst-case scenario for Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia, Wash., and Portland, Ore.
There is also the potential for isolated thunderstorms to develop in the region. Any thunderstorms that form west of the Cascades could produce locally damaging wind gusts in excess of 60 mph, even inland from the coast.
Snow
Snow levels remained rather high through the weekend, but they will gradually drop early this week to between 6,000 to 8,000 feet.
According to Meteorologist Brian Thompson, "Accumulating snow will generally remain above the passes, including Snoqualmie and I-90."
More than 7 inches of snow fell in Custer County, Idaho during an 18 hour period.
A couple of the high passes may have some wet snow mix in as the snow levels drop on Monday. However, hikers should avoid the peaks in the Cascades throughout the storm, where heavy snow remains likely.
Seas
Small craft should remain in port or within protective areas of the bays and straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca.
With a Gale Warning still in effect, seas will be very rough offshore and mariners should use caution. However, the south-to-southwest wind driving the waves will not bring the worst-case scenario to most coastal areas in terms of pounding surf and coastal erosion.
In some cases, the wind-wave action will be parallel to the coast. However, the worst effects are likely to be along the upper half of Vancouver Island that is exposed to south-southwest winds.
Record Wet September
Olympia Airport has had a record month for rainfall. As of 3 a.m. PDT on Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, 7.98 inches of rain has fallen. This breaks the record of 7.59 inches which was set back in 1978. Individual day records were also broken. On Saturday, Olympia was drenched with 2.93 inches of rain making it the wettest September day on record. The old record stood at 1.67 inches.
Similarly, Seattle has had record rainfall. Saturday marked the wettest day on record after 1.71 inches fell. The previous record was 1.65 inches. The monthly record is being tested as well. As 3 a.m. PDT on Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, 5.60 inches of rain has fallen at the observation site in Seattle. The record for the month is 5.95 inches which was set back in 1978. Additional rain on Monday could bring that total above that mark, which would set a new record. Either way, this month will go down in the record books as one of the wettest.
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