An Atmospheric River with moderate to heavy rain is now arriving into the service territory and will continue into Saturday. Rain and melted snow totals of 2-4” are expected over the Washington Cascades, while also decent rainfall amounts across the Puget Sound of 0.7-1.5” besides a notable rain-shadow on the northeast side of the Olympics. Winds will increase this afternoon across western Washington and with gusts of 18-32 mph most areas, besides stronger gusts 30-45 mph for Island and Whatcom Counties and where a Wind Advisory is in effect. The period of strongest winds today is expected to be 11 am to 7 pm. Winds will weaken overnight. However, a stronger weather system is expected Saturday from 7 am to 4 pm and will bring wind gusts of 30-45 mph across much of the service territory, including gusts to 50 mph immediately near Puget Sound waters, as well as across Kittitas County. Winds will lighten Saturday night through midday Monday, followed by another breezy weather system Monday evening. And yet another weather system is expected to follow Wednesday and where there’s potential for strong East Gap wind event along the W. Cascade foothills (North Bend). High temperatures will be in the 50s across all areas through the weekend and with lows of 40s besides locally cooler 30s into the foothills and across Kittitas County. Most importantly, there’s likely to be a few outages this afternoon due to moderate to heavy rain and breezy winds, focused over Island and Whatcom Counties. More impactful and widespread outages should be expected tomorrow from 7 am to 4 pm, focused across Thurston, King, Kitsap, and Pierce Counties.
As PSE prepares to respond to outages we are encouraging our customers to be prepared as well.
Please visit these links for more information on outages and storm preparedness: