I'm glad somebody has posted something concerning this major event for the PAC NW. I came within the skin of my teeth of booking a flight on Southwest Airlines to Seattle to experience what I think will be the biggest wind event in the last few years for the Puget Sound area and the coastal communities of the Olympic Peninsula. (600 dollar fare roundtrip from OKC to SEA! with 24 hour notice!!) But with Christmas coming on, financial obligations with the family has precluded me from being there... so I'll enjoy a virtual chase of which I'll share some links below so you can do the same.
As what Billy eluded to in his initial post, as the system moves ashore tonight near Cape Flattery by 06Z according to the latest GFS, some convection will break out along the I-5 corridor between 21Z to 09Z, some cells may harbour small hail and lightning... but the big show gets underway once the projected 972mb. low moves up into BC with an occluded trough that follows the storm centre to its southwest... gradient winds will be amazing, there should be a 3 to 5 hour period where winds will easily gust to 75mph around the communities of Port Angeles, Sequim and Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. Also, Hwy 530 in northern Snohomish Co. between Oso and Darrington will experience a wind tunnel effect... gusts through there should be amazing. During today... the coastal towns like Westport and La Push will experience increasing south winds and tremendous 20 to 30 ft swells.. following the frontal passage, winds up to 75mph and better can be expected along with significant coastal flooding. One big concern I have is with the recent heavy rains, soils are saturated and this will result in scores of trees being uprooted.
Below is a list of links you can click on to follow the storm as it progresses. The following are the TV stations that will have lots of video's you can watch.
http://www.king5.com/
http://www.kirotv.com/index.html
http://www.komotv.com/
Below are two radio stations that have good weather coverage:
http://www.570kvi.com/
http://www.komoradio.com/
How about some webcam links? The following are good quality cams for you to check out:
http://www.funbeach.com/cams/index.html this is from the Long Beach area.
http://www.drdale.com/cam/ One of my favourite webcams from the Silverdale area on the Kitsap Peninsula west of Seattle. The Hood Canal and the Olympic Range is in the background.
http://www.wireless.nikola.com/sequimcam3.htm Agreat quality cam from Sequim on the northern side of the Olympic Peninsula
http://www.portangelesinn.com/webcam.html Port Angeles cam
http://www.aquatantravel.com/Webcam.htm I'm not sure exactly where this is from, I think it is somewhere up in the Puget Sound area north of Seattle.
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/traffic/default.aspx?cam=1242 Many different traffic cams across the Seattle area and all of Washington state.
http://www.islandcam.com/ Multiple cams across the islands north of Seattle.
http://www.stevenspass.com/webcam/ And for the snow freaks like myself!
Thanks to modern technology, we can enjoy what will be one amazing weather event for this area... I've always been captivated by the weather in the PAC NW.. one of the areas I'm considering in spending my later days once the kids are grown (lack of svr wx and .. earthquakes
are the only negatives). I would love some feedback on this event, especially from anyone else on this forum that lives out in the area.
God Bless! Rocky&family
