WeatherWatcher: High Wind Warning

The windstorm Friday gusted to about 30mph in the Shoreline and Lake Forest Park areas, just a taste of what's on the way. Other areas north of Shoreline saw gusts up to 55mph, so you may have seen more dark intersections and tree debris if your commute took you through Snohomish County.

The National Weather Service in Seattle has upgraded the High Wind Watch to a High Wind Warning for Saturday's event, not to be confused with today's storm.

The storm coming in Saturday is the storm that is the remnants of Typhoon Songda, not unlike the 1962 Columbus day storm in origin and path, however central low pressure appears to be weaker than the one in 1962.

The High Wind Warning is in effect from 3pm Saturday afternoon until 2am Sunday morning.

US National Weather Service forecast

Winds are expected to increase to 20-40mph with gusts as high as 65mph. Models indicated consistently all day today that the winds will probably be strongest for Shoreline and Lake Forest Park right around 8pm-10pm range and start to slowly subside after 11pm Saturday evening.

Also important to note, all day long the models have all been in agreement on the path and strength of this storm, and the path predicted makes it the perfect wind producer for the Puget Sound I-5 corridor.

This storm is not as strong as the Hanukkah Eve storm of 2006, or the Inauguration day storm of 1993, but it will certainly be one of the strongest wind events we've had in a decade. There are lots of leaves left on the trees, so tree damage is expected to be much worse than normal. Be prepared for long-lasting power outages.

Driving is not recommended during the peak of the storm, as most wind related deaths in this region are due to trees falling onto moving cars.

Stay safe out there, and for current weather conditions and updates, visit www.shorelineweather.com and be sure to read the twitter feeds on the right for any up to the minute updates I might post as this monster develops.