Weekend storms could bring power outages, flooding to Bellingham area
Expect a wet and breezy weekend as fierce storms that are lined up in an atmospheric river of moisture head toward Western Washington, bringing strong wind and heavy rain, along with the possibility of power outages and urban flooding in a one-two punch.
A wind advisory was issued from Saturday morning to midnight, with southeast winds at 10-20 mph and gusts of 30-40 mph. For coastal waters, a gale warning was in effect.
“The confounding issue boils down to foliage. As it is still relatively early in the PacNW wet season, a fair amount of trees still have leaves and as such may be prone to complications from lower wind speeds,” meteorologist Dev McMillian said Friday afternoon in the online forecast discussion.
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service in Seattle warned about the approaching weekend storms in an online “significant weather briefing” Tuesday.
“South winds will increase Thursday morning and peak Thursday afternoon into Friday. Winds will be strongest along the coast, as well as across Whidbey Island, the San Juan Islands, and western Whatcom and Skagit counties,” the National Weather Service said.
Winds gusting at 40-45 mph were forecast for Thursday night and into Friday. There was a 10% chance of winds gusting to 60 mph in western Whatcom County and a 10% chance of gusts around 25 mph.
A gale warning was in effect through Friday for the waters around the San Juan Islands, along with a heavy surf advisory for possible storm surge in coastal Whatcom County. A wind advisory was issued for Friday for the Bellingham area, and there were scattered power outages around Whatcom County, affecting fewer than 1,000 Puget Sound Electric customers.
A gale watch is in effect again for Saturday, as a second round of gusty wind and heavy rain was expected to hit early Saturday night and last into Sunday.
Winds that strong can cause tree limbs to fall, resulting in power outages.
Strong winds were once again a concern for the storm scheduled to hit Saturday, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office Division of Emergency Management said Friday.
“The effects on coastal Whatcom County could be impactful. The coastal areas of Whatcom County that should have the strongest winds include Lummi Peninsula, Bellingham Bay, Birch Point and Point Whitehorn,” DEM spokeswoman Amy Cloud said in an email.
The weekend forecast also includes periods of heavy rain, with up to an inch possible in the lowlands through Friday, and another inch of rain Saturday through Sunday.
“This will produce some sharp rises on rivers, but river flooding is not expected. The primary impacts will be localized urban and small stream flooding as well as areas with poor drainage. In addition, windy conditions are expected in coastal areas and north Interior,” the weather service said.
Snow was forecast for the mountains, with snow levels around 2,500 to 3,000 feet on Friday. Snow was expected in the range of 1 to 2 feet across the Mount Baker region. A winter weather advisory was in effect through Saturday night.
This story was originally published October 22, 2025 at 12:55 PM.
