But at least we got the windows in...
Puget Sound Weather Outlook
Updated Tuesday 6:25 a.m.
All that's left is the kitchen sink.
Less than 24 hours after the wettest storm in Western Washington in nearly two years, a strong line of thunderstorms moved through the greater Seattle area, downing trees and power lines with wind gusts of 40-55 mph overnight. It was the tail end of a "one-two" punch from Mother Nature, as the rain saturated the soil, making the toppling of trees that much easier.
This was not forecast, so you deserve an explanation: The first signs of strong thunderstorms hit the coast at 10:30 last night, as Hoquiam recorded a 70 mph wind gust. Most of the time, coastal thunderstorms do not maintain the energy needed to stay alive all the way to the Puget Sound lowlands. In this case, though, we under-estimated how much "juice" was still in the air in the wake of the Pineapple Express and tropical moisture that hit us this weekend. There was enough energy for those storms to thrive all the way to the Cascades, and widespread 40-55 mph wind gusts knocked out power to thousands of folks overnight.
On a personal note, I've covered two hurricanes and three tropical storms, but have not seen winds as strong as the ones outside my house last night since Hurricane Frances in Florida in 2004. In a word, it was scary.
That tropical air is now gone, and the threat of more severe weather is gone with it.
A cold front swept through with the thunderstorms, and cool air is rushing in behind the front. It's still unstable enough for scattered showers to form over the next few days, but any flashes of lightning should be confined to our coastal communities. I expect some peeks of sunshine, and daytime temperatures will be markedly cooler today with highs only reaching the mid 40s. It'll be even cooler on Wednesday and Thursday with highs in the low 40s. Overnight lows will be in the mid/upper 30s and the snow level will drop as low as 1000' at night.
It will be mostly cloudy but mainly dry on Friday (low 40s) before more showers return on Saturday and Sunday (mid 40s). Long-range forecast models keep us showery and seasonably cool through most of the week leading up to Christmas.
Be safe, and make it a great day --
Paul Deanno, KOMO4 Meteorologist