Cleanup in progress after gusty winds whip across Western Washington

Winter weather rolled through Western Washington on Monday, with gusty winds tearing down powerlines and toppling trees.

Up in the Cascades, the roads are icy and dicey, while avalanche warnings are in place for both Stevens and Snoqualmie passes until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

The windstorm brought gusts of up to 40 mph, and in some areas like Island County, gusts were above 55 mph.

Redmond High School and Mann Elementary canceled classes Tuesday because of a power outage.

Just down the street from the schools, a tree snapped and fell on some powerlines.

Steve Molloy who lives around the corner said it happened around 5:30 p.m. Monday evening, and since then they’ve been without power.

“I was able to kind of walk over here and see it last night about 8 o’clock and it looks just as the same as it does right now,” said Molloy.

Molloy says with the power out some of his kids got to stay home.

“We have five children and two of them are in the middle school which still has power so they are open but three of them are at the elementary school which has been canceled today,” said Molloy.

Snohomish PUD crews have been busy, clearing tree damage and restoring power.

Monday night, Snohomish PUD reported a tree had taken down power lines and a pole along Larch Way.

“Last night I think we topped out at about 7,000 outages,” said Aaron Swaney, spokesperson for Snohomish PUD.

Snohomish PUD says 11 crews worked throughout the night. Restoration efforts are still underway up North and in Camano Island.

“Really it’s trees into poles and wires that are bringing stuff down, so it’s a lot of big fixes, so it’s going to take a little bit of time to get folks up. We hope to have everyone restored and back up by the end of the day,” said Swaney.

There have been similar issues in several other areas, such as Edmonds.

KIRO 7 spoke with a woman who lives in Lynnwood who says a tree branch came crashing through her kitchen window just as she was about to have dinner.

“We were just standing there in shock covered in glass and were just kind of surprised by what happened,” said Rachel McLeod.

No one was hurt.

In Woodinville, a massive tree came down on top of a car. No one was hurt in that incident, either.

Thousands of households were without power due to the gusty winds.

Over 27,000 customers were impacted statewide as of 11 p.m. Monday, with the highest concentration of outages in Benton, Yakima and Thurston counties. Early Tuesday, the outages had dropped to less than 6,000 statewide.

Wind gusts were stout through Monday evening and most gusts were in the 30 to 40 mph range, but Everett’s Paine Field hit 52 mph, Boeing Field in Seattle hit 45 mph, and Whidbey Island was likely experiencing 55 mph gusts as of 10 p.m. (the weather station at NAS Whidbey went offline Sunday night so actual reports from that windiest place near Oak Harbor are unavailable.)

A Winter Storm Warning is in effect until 4 p.m. Tuesday for the Cascades, where six to 12 inches of snow will fall through late Tuesday at Snoqualmie Pass, with 12 to 18 inches of snow expected to fall at Stevens Pass. Over two feet of snow will fall on the higher peaks through Tuesday. Pass travel will be troublesome at times.

A Coastal Flood Advisory is out for the coast and waters around Puget Sound until 10 a.m. Tuesday. Gusty winds and high tides will cause some minor overwash, particularly around high tide about 6 a.m. Tuesday.

Tuesday morning, it was still very windy in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but it is slowly calming down and it is much calmer for most of Western Washington compared to Monday night. Scattered showers are moving through the area with breezy conditions and temps in the upper-30s and lower-40s. Showers will continue here and there Tuesday ahead of another wave that will move through Tuesday afternoon and evening.

There is also the chance of some snow. Find the full forecast at this link.

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