Even though we had scattered showers and downpours with some thunderstorms Monday, we didn’t have any watches or warnings as we had over the stormy weekend. There will be more showers today ending late tonight. Wednesday should be fair, but probably lots of fog with the clearing skies and the abundant moisture on the ground.
We get another round of rain Thursday and Friday, although the storm may weaken and rainfall amounts could be small. We may manage a dry weekend — at least Saturday — before more rain returns. Forecast models are iffy right now so we will chat about the weekend on Thursday.
There is much discussion in the media about Saturday’s windstorm. Yes, computer models showed a closer approach to the storm but it remained further offshore, lessening the impact inland.
Regardless, there was still lots of wind damage due to downed trees causing power outages and property damage. The heavy rain caused local street flooding and many Western Washington rivers to approach bank-full conditions. A good thing most rivers were low to begin with or it would have been much worse.
Wind speeds were between 40 and 50 mph here in Clark County but stronger on the Washington Coast. The Long Beach peninsula got hammered with winds between 60 and 80 mph. This was about 20 mph less that forecast for both the coast and inland valleys. The peninsula had standing water nearly everywhere, with fields underwater due to 6 inches of rain last week through the weekend.
It is always tricky forecasting the exact track of these storms that basically explode with development close to the coast. This one remained about 50 miles further west or otherwise we would have had a really major windstorm. I know many events got canceled because of the warning, but it is always best to prepare for the worse and hope for the best.
I bet many folks readied or established a three-day emergency kit just for this reason. So all wasn’t lost. Always a good idea to have backup supplies for hazardous conditions.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at patricktimm.com.
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