Today we had the strongest windstorm since 2006. This bomb cyclone was one of the deepest in recorded history for our region, measuring 945 millibars. The center stayed well away from Washington, spiraling about 200 miles from the coast. It would have been much more severe had the center drifted over the I5 corridor like our biggest storms have done in the past.
This one is special for being the most ferocious of east-generating winds coming out of the Cascades. Winds were much higher in the foothills, while barely making a fuss on the shores of Puget Sound, conveniently shielded by the Olympics.
I went to deliver on my Uber eats app for the dinner hours, which grew more chaotic as the evening went on. Around 6:30, the wind started picking up. Then around 7:00, transformers started blowing every few minutes, lighting up the sky like bubbled auroras. My last couple of customers had to receive their dinner in the dark. I would have kept going, but my family wanted me home.
Plenty of branches fell on the streets, and there was no sign of downed trees. Luckily our power stayed on, which has never happened during a major windstorm, at least when I lived in other parts of town. I'll remember this storm being a big transformer breaker but relatively weak on downed trees and sheer wind. Being in the dark also made it seem less of a storm than it really was.
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