Powerful Storm Expected to Keep Valley Windy, Rainy all Saturday, Pound Mountains with Snow

It’s a one-two punch from Mother Nature.

While we slept Friday night, a pretty strong warm front moved through, bringing with it heavy rain and blustery winds – and warm overnight temperatures. Weather stations in North Bend and Snoqualmie hit 59 degrees during the early morning hours!  Heavy winds also knocked out power in areas of Seattle – and Hurricane Ridge picked up a 78mph  wind gust.

Just as that warm front said goodbye, a cold front entered the area on its heels and those near 60 degree temperatures  dropped to 40.  The NationalWeather Service has multiple weather advisories and warnings in place with this new system.

The Snoqualmie Valley had both a wind advisory and flood watch issued.  Snoqualmie and North Bend have picked up wind gusts of 48mph.   As of 9:15AM, the Snoqualmie River was doing fine – just a  bit phase the 1 flood alert level at 6600 cfs.

Areas of North Bend and Snoqualmie dealt with power outages all day.  Some areas have downed trees and power lines.  At 4PM, Puget Sound Energy said it had about 20,000 customers without power in King County.  Crews were working to restore power in gusty winds, but as they would restore power to some, new outages would be reported.

After the front moves through Saturday morning, cold air settles in and rain should decrease over the lowlands, but is expected to keep going in the mountains in the form of very heavy snow. Also, the wind should hang around all day and scattered showers could bring brief heavy rain, hail and even some thunder.

If you’re heading toward Snoqualmie Pass, be aware that a Winter Storm Warning goes into this afternoon through early Sunday for up to TWO feet of snow.  Driving will be tough.  In addition to the heavy snow, gusty winds are predicted to cause blowing snow.  If the weather forecast pans out, don’t be surprised to see I-90 closed over the pass at times.

The weather guys say to expect the rainy and windy conditions to continue all day Sunday, January 12th, before high pressure starts to build in on Monday and calm things down.