Major storm moving into Pacific Northwest

KONP ^

[djf]

Freepers from Oregon, Western Washington, Vancouver island: ALERT!!! Major storm forecast today, and it's not like yesterday was exactly a nice May day either. This could be the biggest of the year. If you have a thermos, make your coffee now! Widespread power outages predicted.

Winds expected to start very high on the coast this afternoon, moving into Puget Sound by the latter part of the evening and continuing very high until mid morning.

Batten down the hatches!

December 14th, 2006 - 6:02am

(Port Angeles) -- It could be a wild weather night for the North Olympic Peninsula. The National Weather Service says another storm is expected to bring very strong winds and rain to the state later today and continuing into tomorrow. Sustained winds of 40 miles per hour or more are forecast for both sides of the Cascades -- and the weather service says gusts could reach 80 or 90 miles per hour on the coast. Meteorologist Jay Albrecht with the Seattle National Weather Service office tells Newsradio 1450 KONP an intense low is expected to form today and move onto the North Olympic Peninsula sometime tonight -- possibly between 8 and 10 o'clock. He says computer models show once the low passes off to the northeast, there will be a very strong westerly surge through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with 60 to 80 mile an hour winds possible over the water. Albrecht says the area he is worried about the most tonight is the west side of Whidbey Island, but all water-exposed areas could get hammered. Forecasters have a high wind watch in effect for all of Western Washington.

[goodnesswins]

Where are YOU?

[djf]

Lake Tapps
(near)

[goodnesswins]

Actually....that's where WE are....Lakeland. Our power just blipped off....and back on.....now we can't get any radio stations....can you?

[djf]

I went in the bedroom, turned on my battery radio, then after a minute or so I hear this whirring sound.. it was my electric heat turning back on.

So that's strange, cause every other time I lost power it was always out at least an hour and a half, but it's back on. I'm listening to KVI now.

[goodnesswins]

We can't get KOMO 1000....and I'm signing off now - lights are blinking too much....stay toasty!

[happydogx2]

I'm in Bend, where are you?

We lived 3 miles inland from Bandon for 20 years. I did have a generator and used it a lot....but for the last five years we've lived in Bend.

I do miss the coast (and the Elk/Sixes/Flores Creek) but the Bend area is nice too.

Our forecast (after the winds subside) is 2-4" of snow.

[onehipdad]

Think of 50' Christmas trees with 18" trunks surrounding your house, with winds howling like a 747 - that's what it's like right now. We lost power for nearly two hours, which isn't bad at all. I'm surprised the local media isn't all over this, like they usually are. Hope the worst is over. We're about 50 miles from Mount Hood, BTW. Looks like this storm is going to head east across the plains with continued - possibly building - fury.

[Vicki]

The wind has really picked up here. Lights flickering. Pretty scary. We have alot of trees around us.

[Mr. Mojo]

Out here on Whidbey we lost power a couple hours ago. (My generator has been put to good use the past three weeks). Trees down all over the place -- one big pine just landed close to my house. So far two confirmed dead from falling trees in the region....

[NRA2BFree]

Anyone else see the video of the commercial airliner trying to land at an airport in the (I think ) Seattle area....?

It was getting buffeted pretty good...

I saw it. That thing was rocking back and forth. If that pilot hadn't pulled up when he did one of the wings would have hit the runway. Pretty darn scary!

[onehipdad]

Fox12 just reported 99 mph winds up at Timberline.

[Vicki]

I have relatives on Whidbey Island. I pray for all of you there and for all of us. It isn't over yet and I think the worse is yet to come. Hang on!

[BADROTOFINGER]

Tell me about it! I'm on my honeymoon in Leavenworth, and we got better than a foot and a half in about 7 hours here!

Power went out in our inn, all kinds of lovely events...

But it hasn't been too bad, and Leavenworth is truly beautiful this time of year, besides being with the lovely Mrs. BADROTOFINGER.

Also sion, i'll have to do the WA pings when I get back home so no worries...JFK

[Vicki]

My mother just reported a large noise and branches covering all the windows on the one side of her house.

[Der_Hirnfänger]

It's blowing like the dickens here Yamhill Co. Windows are rattling and we had one power failure. No trees falling over yet.

Branches, twigs, etc are lining the streets. Guess that's what we get for living in such a nice green area here in the Willamette Valley :O)

[Sir_Ed]

Hi, Oregon Rancher!

I'm upstream from you, between the (soon to be lamented) Savage Rapids Dam and the Hamilton House restaurant, which changed it's name to something else.

Here's some pictures I took from my back yard, from last year.

That last shot was when we had the high water last winter, and it went waaay up higher than that.

It kinda spooked me out because it was just a few feet from my backyard!

I always know when it's high water because the river becomes very, very silent. Usually I hear the roar of the rapids below my window, but when the river's high all the sound ceases, as the rocks and banks are buried deep beneath a torrent of water.

So you have an otter below your house? How totally cool! I have rarely seen otters here, although we have a few egrets, falcons, ospreys and this one bird, shown below, (blurry, unfortunately!) that's some sort of crane, I think...with a HUGE wingspan!

And here's a couple more from my backyard of the Rogue in the Fall.

I sure love that river, except when it gets so close to my backyard!

You're right, by the way, about GP cleaning house...I'm glad.

See ya', Ed

[Sir_Ed]

Hah hah!

I hope they get DRENCHED!

Ed

[djf]

My power went out about midnite. AT that time, I think there were sustained winds of 40-60 mph. So I got outa dodge and went down into the flatlands in Auburn, there were limbs down all over.

Coming back up the hill m the road was closed so I took a different route. Fox news reporting three dead and widespread power outage, wouldn't surprise me if I'm out for 2 days.

Thank God nothing on my house.

Seems to be tapering off now.

[djf]

120,000 in Snohomish county w/o power, half the customer base.
160,000 Seattle City light customers out.
700,000 Puget Sound Energy customers. (Hey, PSE, turn me on first!!!)
Most school districts closed, the word is, unless it's an emergency, stay home.

Driving around this morning I was amazed that even in places where the roads are not surrounded by trees, there was debris in the road.

If you do have to go anywhere, try to imagine even before you start your car what it is like to drive with ALL the traffic signals not working. Plan accordingly. Use caution and don't take anything for granted.

For those who use any kind of emergency heat in your house, CRACK OPEN A WINDOW! We DON'T need to miss any Freepers because of Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

They are saying this is the worse storm since the Inaugeration day storm, but IMHO this is worse, the damage seems more widespread.

[Global2010]

We MADE IT!

Hope all ya'll are OK TOO!

God Bless the PUD workers for getting electricity back on.

No offense to anyone but I don't know what is worse the fear of a big storm or having to suffer through KV watching Monty Python and Leslie Nelson DVD's on his 60 inch wega tv.

Good sign a little bird just landed next to me outside the window. Thanks God I needed that.

Watching the Sea Gulls try to fly yesterday was sad.

God BLess!
Gonna catch a nap while he is napping before the next shift of care starts....we have the respite nurse coming in to give us both a break today.
Gonna turn this stupid DVD off and see if Catholic Radio is back on the air.....