It was very stormy around the great Northwest Sunday and into early Monday morning, with strong winds pounding the coastline and also the inland valleys.
Locally, wind speeds were 35-45 mph with a few reports of 50 mph winds in the higher Clark County regions. Here are a few Sunday wind reports from around the Northwest: Hurricane Ridge atop the Olympics, 127 mph; Mount Hebo, 86 mph; Lincoln City, Ore., 79 mph; Astoria, Ore., 62 mph; Hoquiam, 60 mph; Kelso-Longview, 52 mph; Olympia, 55 mph; Portland International Airport, 51 mph; and Vancouver at Pearson Field, 41 mph.
I was at Ocean Shores and it was just your typical run-of-the-mill windstorm with gusts to 50 mph or so, no big deal really. Not like the 80-100 mph winds earlier this winter. I did go for a drive around Grays Harbor County through Aberdeen, Raymond and Westport and I can tell you that rivers were nearly bank full and the color of two-day-old coffee. Pastures and low-lying areas were underwater and plenty of “water over roadway” signs as well. In that neck of the woods and further north to the Olympics, 12 to 20 inches of rain fell in the past eight days. The ground is so saturated there just isn’t any place for more water to go.
Another storm was following on the heels of Sunday’s and more rain and high winds were in the forecast for Monday night into early today. Yet another one follows late Wednesday into Thursday and bears watching for stronger winds if the storm track gets closer than forecast.
