Power outages hit as the first windstorm of the year arrives in Whatcom County
About 3,000 Puget Sound Energy customers were without power for several hours Thursday morning as the first major storm of 2019 rattled windows and eaves across Whatcom County, in advance of foul weather that threatens outages, lowland flooding and heavy mountain snowfall.
Sustained southeast winds of 15-20 mph, gusting to 33 mph or higher, hit Whatcom County starting about 7 p.m. Wednesday and continued overnight with occasionally heavy rain.
Almost a half-inch of rain was recorded Wednesday at Bellingham International Airport.
But the worst is yet to come, meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Seattle said at its website.
Winds will increase Thursday afternoon as a cold front arrives, and a wind advisory for Western Washington was in effect until 7 p.m. Thursday.
“We’ll continue to see those breezy, gusty winds today and into this evening,” meteorologist Courtney Obergfell said in a telephone interview with The Bellingham Herald.
“It will be breezy overnight, but the strongest winds will peak this afternoon,” Obergfell said.
Winds of 20-35 mph with gusts 45-50 mph are likely, forecasters said online.
Even so, Obergfell said that this storm won’t be as strong as the big blow that battered Whatcom County on Dec. 20, cutting power to thousands of PSE customers and causing $5 million or more in damage.
Residents of Sudden Valley and part of Geneva lost power about 6:45 a.m. Wednesday because of “trees/vegetation,” and all but a few homes had power restored by 9 a.m., PSE said at its website.
That followed a 6:30 a.m. report of arcing wires in the Geneva area, according to the Pulse Point fire-EMS app.
About 2,100 customers were without power in the Skagit River Valley towns of Concrete, Rockport and Marblemount, and another 200 customers were without power in Anacortes and La Conner.
But no other major outages were reported by 3 p.m. Thursday.
Winds and rain were part of a storm chugging into Western Washington from the South Pacific, bringing a warm front that pushed lowland temperatures to an unseasonable 50 degrees and raised the snow level to 5,000 feet in the North Cascades.
Rainfall in the mountains prompted weather officials to issue a flood watch through Saturday.
Gage height on the Nooksack River was at 4.75 feet and rising about 11 a.m. Wednesday near Glacier and at 141.75 feet near Nugents Corner.
Flood stage at Nugents Corner is 146.5 feet, and the river was expected to crest just below that height early Friday.
“We’re definitely still watching the Nooksack River,” Obergfell said.
In Ferndale, the Nooksack was at 9 feet and rising Thursday morning.
Crest was expected Saturday at flood stage of 18 feet.
Mt. Baker Ski Area was reporting rain Thursday morning at its online snow report, but temperatures will fall Thursday night as a cold front arrives, and a winter storm warning is in effect for the North Cascades through Friday.
Lowland flooding concerns were expected to ease quickly as rain turns to snow in the mountains Thursday night.
“We’ll see snowfall in the 1- to 2-foot range,” Obergfell said. “So — good news for skiers.”
But the unstable weather brings a warning from the Northwest Avalanche Center website, which cautions that avalanche danger is high across the North Cascades.
This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 8:06 AM.
