Whipping winds are gone, but rain is here to stay for at least another day.
Easter egg hunters might need umbrellas today as showers are likely to stick around into the night. Sunday should be drier with the rain holding off until later in the evening.
“It’s going to be a lot calmer as far as the wind goes,” said Johnny Burg, a meteorologist with the weather service in Seattle.
A winterlike storm on Friday caused power outages and traffic delays throughout the day, as high winds swept across Western Washington. A wind advisory was in effect for the Everett area until about 9 p.m.
The National Weather Service measured afternoon gusts of 54 mph on Whidbey Island and 62 mph at Paine Field in Everett, Burg said.
The windiest place in Washington on Friday?
Tatoosh Island, located about a half mile off the northwest tip of the Olympic Peninsula saw 86 mph wind gusts, Burg said.
In Snohomish County, wind knocked down tree branches and power lines.
Traffic lights in downtown Everett swayed. Garbage cans in Lynnwood toppled over. In Lake Stevens, Mike Vanney first heard a crack and then saw the tree coming down.
About 16 inches at its base, the tree struck the roof of a neighbor’s building at the Lake Villa Apartments around 11:30 a.m. Friday.
“The wind was blowing big time up here,” he said.
Before noon, utility crews also quickly restored power to 3,071 customers in and around Snohomish and Lake Goodwin, Thorne said. Around 2 p.m., power was lost for 1,586 customers in Clearview, while another 364 lost power in the Woodway area, Snohomish County PUD spokesman Mike Thorne said. About 800 customers in the Smokey Point area were out of power in the late afternoon.
Power was restored to those customers by Friday evening.
“We had the potential to have a lot worse,” Thorne said.
Downed lines ruined David Menard’s lunch break at the Camano Island Library. He tried to visit the beach to look at white caps, only to have utility crews turn him around.
“The route I would normally take was blocked,” he said.
Washington State Ferries canceled afternoon sailings across Admiralty Inlet between Whidbey Island and Port Townsend because of high winds and rough seas.
Some drivers also were delayed in their travels. A fallen tree in Eastgate slowed traffic on I-90 in the afternoon, while an earlier accident on the highway stopped traffic near Snoqualmie Pass.
The central Cascades were expected to get up to 3 feet of snow during the storm.
Andy Rathbun: 425-339-3455; arathbun@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
