SEATTLE — Nearly 9,000 Puget Sound-area utility customers were still without power Monday evening after winds gusts of up to 50 mph rolled through the region — and more wind is expected Tuesday.
At higher elevations, the National Weather Service also expects more of the icy rain that already closed the state’s mountain passes to frustrated holiday travelers in recent days.
Stevens Pass remained closed Monday, and the Washington State Department of Transportation tweeted that it would likely be closed all day Tuesday because of freezing rain and about six inches of ice on the roadway. Snoqualmie Pass reopened Sunday.
Monday’s windstorm weakened by 8:30 a.m. as the cold front moved east into the Cascade foothills, said Trent Davis, NWS-Seattle meteorologist. A wind advisory was in effect until 11 a.m., after which forecasters expected “things to wind down a little bit,” Davis said.
Although utility crews had restored power to many affected customers, Puget Sound Energy was still reporting 133 active outages affecting nearly 7,500 customers as of 10 p.m. Affected areas included communities in King, Pierce and Kitsap counties, according to the utility’s online map.
Just 426 Seattle City Light customers were experiencing outages late Monday , along with about 1,000 Snohomish County Public Utility District customers.
King County said a power outage at the Medina pump station caused a wastewater overflow Monday morning into Lake Washington. The county didn’t have an estimate of the amount of stormwater mixed with wastewater that poured into the lake through the pump station’s emergency outfall pipe.
Employees with the county’s Environmental Lab will be taking water samples and signs warning people to avoid contact with the water will be posted, the county said.
A new system is expect to hit the region Tuesday morning, one of a series of fronts moving in off the Pacific Ocean, Davis said. The strongest winds are expected to be mainly on the coast.
However, winds could gust as high as 37 mph Tuesday in the Seattle area. Rain is expected in the region throughout the week, according to the weather service.
The same weather system could bring more icy rain to higher elevations as moist ocean air mixes with colder air coming in from the east, Davis said.
“If you’re planning to go through the passes, there could be … icy conditions,” Davis said. “Thankfully, it’s mostly just on the passes themselves, not really even in the foothills leading up to them.”
An ice storm warning for the Kittitas Valley and the Yakima Valley remains in effect through 4 p.m. Tuesday.
