A major storm hit the northwestern United States on Tuesday evening, lashing the region with strong winds and rain that caused widespread power outages and downed trees that killed at least one person.
The Weather Forecast Center issued heavy rainfall warnings and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect Friday as the strongest atmospheric river — a large plume of moisture — swept across California and the Pacific Northwest. It has been observed that this weather has overwhelmed the region. A storm system is considered a “bomb cyclone,” which occurs when a storm rapidly intensifies.
Downed trees hit homes and littered roads in northwest Washington. In Lynnwood, Washington, a woman died Tuesday night when a large tree fell on a homeless camp, South County Fire said in a statement on X. In Seattle, a tree fell on a vehicle, temporarily trapping a person inside, the Seattle Fire Department reported. The agency later said the person was in stable condition.
The fire department in Bellevue, about 10 miles (16 km) east of Seattle, posted on the social platform X, “Trees are falling all over town and falling on homes.” If you can, go to the lowest floor and stay away from windows. If you can avoid it, don’t go out.”
As of early Wednesday, more than 600,000 homes in Washington state were reported to be without power on poweroutage.us. But the number of outage reports fluctuated wildly throughout the evening, likely as many weather and utility agencies struggled to report information about the storm due to Internet outages and other technical issues. It was not clear whether the figures were accurate. More than 15,000 were without power in Oregon and about 19,000 in California.
As of 8 p.m., the strongest winds were in Canadian waters, with gusts of 101 mph (163 km/h) reported off the coast of Vancouver Island, according to the National Weather Service in Seattle. Along the Oregon coast, wind gusts were 79 mph (127 km/h) Tuesday evening, according to the National Weather Service in Medford, Oregon, while Mount Rainier in Washington had gusts of 77 mph. per hour (124 km/h) was recorded.
Winds are expected to increase in western Washington during the evening, the weather service said.
The National Weather Service warned people on the West Coast about the risk of downed trees during high winds, posting on X, “Stay safe by avoiding exterior rooms and windows and using caution when driving.”
In Northern California, flash and high wind watches were in effect, with up to 8 inches (20 cm) of rain predicted in the San Francisco Bay Area, the North Shore and parts of the Sacramento Valley. According to the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center, dangerous flash floods, rockslides and debris flows were expected.
A winter storm watch was issued for the northern Sierra Nevada above 3,500 feet (1,066 m), where 15 inches (28 cm) of snow was possible over two days. Wind gusts of up to 75 mph (120 km/h) are possible in mountainous areas, forecasters said.
The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for parts of southwestern Oregon through Friday evening, as high winds and high seas blocked the ferry route between Port Townsend and Copeville in northwest Washington.
A blizzard warning was issued for most of the Cascades in Washington, beginning Tuesday afternoon, with up to a foot of snow and gusts of up to 60 mph (97 km/h) Tuesday afternoon, according to the weather service in Seattle. The wind was blowing at a speed of . Passages can be difficult, if not impossible.
