Yesterday’s rain failed to live up to its promise, with only .03″ of rain recorded at SeaTac Airport. (This after projections of 0.50.”) The winds, of course, were another story, with gusts reaching 53 mph at the airport, and well above 50 mph at several other locations.
Interestingly, wind models from Saturday showed little potential for strong winds, which is why the National Weather Service didn’t have the Puget Sound area under any type of wind warning until 12:30 p.m. or so. By then, of course, the damage had been done. At least the strong winds weren’t accompanied by driving rain…that would have really made matters worse.
Today’s system has been another weakling, rain-wise, with no measurable precipitation recorded for Seattle so far. Forecast models show some moderate showers moving through in the next couple of hours, so it’s possible that we could squeak out .05″ or so for the day–certainly nothing impressive for this time of year.
Then comes tomorrow night. Current model projections are for about a half-inch of rain for areas north of a Downtown Seattle-to-Redmond line, and for up to an inch in areas south of this line. If this pans out, Dec. 27 will easily steal the crown from Dec. 18 as the wettest day of the month. (Only .19″ of rain fell on the 18th, so it’s not like tomorrow is going up against a soaker of a day.) Winds will also kick up again tomorrow night, but it won’t be anything too special for the immediate metro area.
Another rainmaker blows through here on Wednesday night, with another half inch or so possible, before a break in the action on Thursday. Earlier models were indicating the potential for a whopper of a windstorm on Friday night, but the latest runs have backed off significantly, sending the potent low that would generate damaging winds across the Sound well north into Canada.
That said, this week’s upper-level air pattern–with a very strong jet stream stretching back across the Pacific to China–is a pretty good breeding ground for windstorms. If the Seattle area ever is to see widespread damaging winds in 2011, this final week would certainly be a prime candidate.
Stay tuned as we get closer to the week’s end!
