‘Quick-hitting’ windstorm could blow the leaves off Bellingham trees
A “quick-hitting” weekend storm is expected to bring wind and rain to the Whatcom County lowlands and more snow to the mountains, along with a few power outages, weather forecasters said.
Scattered showers were expected Friday night, yielding to a cool and cloudy day on Saturday, the National Weather Service said in its online forecast discussion.
“A quick-hitting fall system will bring a brief round of heavy rain and breezy winds to Western Washington,” forecasters said in a Friday briefing.
More active weather is likely on Saturday night and Sunday as an unstable air mass crosses Northwest Washington, including Whatcom County.
That storm is expected to bring south winds gusting to 35-45 mph, strong enough to cause some power outages, according to meteorologists at the weather service office in Seattle. Some thunderstorms are possible on Sunday.
“If you are a photographer looking to get fall color pictures you might want to do some shooting today into Saturday as the system will really knock the leaves off the trees. With so many leaves still on the trees even through right now wind speeds do not look like they will reach wind advisory criteria there still could be some downed limbs and possible power outages,” the weather service said.
A small craft advisory is in effect from Saturday night to Sunday night for south to west-southwest winds at 25 to 30 knots and seas to 10 feet.
The strongest winds were expected from the Strait of Juan De Fuca and northern inland waters including Whidbey Island, the San Juan Islands and the Whatcom County coast.
Snow levels will be 4,000 to 5,000 feet in the North Cascades. A winter weather advisory is in effect for the mountains through Sunday night.
“Plan on slippery road conditions. People planning on visiting the backcountry should plan accordingly for winter weather conditions,” with 4 to 8 inches of snow in the Cascades of Whatcom and Skagit counties, the weather service said.
For the lowlands, daytime highs through the weekend will be in the mid-50s with overnight lows in to upper 40s.
This story was originally published October 17, 2025 at 12:10 PM.
