Tuesday’s winds didn’t bother local kite boarders as they flocked to North Beach in Port Townsend after the rain cleared to enjoy the sun and surf. (Cydney McFarland/Peninsula Daily News)

Tuesday’s winds didn’t bother local kite boarders as they flocked to North Beach in Port Townsend after the rain cleared to enjoy the sun and surf. (Cydney McFarland/Peninsula Daily News)

Season’s rain, wind begins: Storms also expected today, Saturday after Tuesday blow

The first storm of the fall season blew into the North Olympic Peninsula on Tuesday, with a second storm forecast today and a third Saturday.

The good news is that, by the time the line of storms streaming from China move out of the area, enough rain is expected to have fallen in the Olympic Mountains to begin reviving rivers closed to fishing on Monday because of low water levels.

Some 1,025 people lost electrical power on the North Olympic Peninsula — about 600 in East Jefferson County and about 425 in Clallam County — on Tuesday morning before the winds calmed and blue sky peeked through the clouds.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

The largest outages were in Discovery Bay in Jefferson County and in the Mount Pleasant area in Clallam County, with scattered outages elsewhere as winds pruned weak branches from trees.

Most were back on the grid by 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. Repairs were continuing at that time on several power lines down on Middlepoint Road in Jefferson County.

Public utility districts braced for more outages today.

“It’s the first shakeout when you get those first winds through here,” said Nicole Clark, communications manager for Clallam County Public Utility District, adding that “we’re a little more concerned about [today].”

Said Will O’Donnell, Jefferson County Public Utility District communications specialist: “We’re definitely bracing for the coming couple of days,” but he added, “The crews were out right away today and got everything up quickly and we expect the same level of performance next time.”

Top wind gusts were measured Tuesday at 48 mph at Fairchild International Airport in Port Angeles, and 38 mph at Port Townsend and at Quillayute Airport near Forks, said Jay Albrecht, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.

A bigger blow is expected today.

The front expected to arrive at about 8 a.m. is likely to be “a little more significant” than the storm that hit the area Tuesday, Albrecht said.

Heavy winds are expected on the east and west sides of the Peninsula, with gusts up to 50 mph or even 55 mph on the Pacific Coast, he said.

The wind won’t rise until late morning and is expected to extend through late afternoon, Albrecht said.

A high wind warning is in effect from 11 am. to to 11 p.m. today.

“We’re expecting a more effective pruning of the trees and more impact on power outages,” Albrecht said.

Today’s storm is likely to bring more rain than Tuesday’s, according to the meteorologist.

Port Townsend received about a tenth of an inch of rain Tuesday, while Port Angeles had about three tenths of an inch and 1.33 inches was measured at Quillayute Airport.

Today forecasters expect about 0.4 inches of rain in Port Townsend and some 1.2 inches in Port Angeles, with totals picking up toward the west. Forks could receive 3.49 inches and some west slopes of the Olympics could get up to 8 inches, Albrecht said.

“We’re filling the tub” of the rivers and will have “a more full tub as we get into the weekend,” he said.

The Quillayute and Hoh rivers were closed to sport fishing and treaty fisheries Monday because low flow could impede salmon migration.

The state Department of Fish and Wildlife also closed the Sol Duc and Dickey rivers to all fishing and sections of the Bogachiel and Calawah rivers until the levels rise. The Olympic National Park prohibited fishing in the Quillayute, Dickey and Hoh River mouths and the portions of the rivers within park boundaries.

The low flow in rivers “is going to start changing pretty quickly,” Albrecht said.

Forecasters don’t know how strong Saturday’s storm will be yet but some models say it could be as big as today’s, he said.

________

Executive Editor Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3530 or at lleach@peninsuladailynews.com.

A kite boarder makes use of the wind at North Beach in Port Townsend after the rain cleared Tuesday. (Cydney McFarland/Peninsula Daily News)

A kite boarder makes use of the wind at North Beach in Port Townsend after the rain cleared Tuesday. (Cydney McFarland/Peninsula Daily News)

Port Angeles street department workers clear a fallen tree at Fifth and Oak streets on Tuesday, the result of a wave of wind and rain that rolled over the North Olympic Peninsula on Tuesday morning. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

Port Angeles street department workers clear a fallen tree at Fifth and Oak streets on Tuesday, the result of a wave of wind and rain that rolled over the North Olympic Peninsula on Tuesday morning. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)

More in News

Jeffrey Surtel.
DNA tests identify remains as BC boy

Surtel, 17, went missing from British Columbia home in 2007

David Brownell, executive director of the North Olympic History Center, top, takes a piece of ultraviolet-filtering window tinting from Ralph Parsons, Clallam County maintenance worker, in an effort on Tuesday to protect historic paintings on the stairway of the section of the county courthouse, including an 1890s depiction of Port Angeles Harbor by artist John Gustaf Kalling. The history center is working with the county to preserve the stairway artworks by adding the window coatings to reduce damage from sunlight and installing an electronic UV monitor to track potentially harmful rays. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
Protecting artwork

David Brownell, executive director of the North Olympic History Center, top, takes… Continue reading

Evictions are at historic highs

Trends based on end of pandemic-era protections

Public works director highlights plans for Port Townsend streets

Staff recommends de-emphazing redundancies

West Boat Haven Marina master plan to take shape

Approved contract will create design, feasibility analysis

Cindy Taylor of Port Townsend, representing the environmental group Local 20/20, points to printed information available about the organization to an interested party while at the Jefferson County Connectivity Summit at Chimacum High School on Saturday. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Connectivity summit

Cindy Taylor of Port Townsend, representing the environmental group Local 20/20, points… Continue reading

Operations scheduled at Bentinck range this week

The land-based demolition range at Bentinck Island will be… Continue reading

William Flores.
Deputy to be assigned to West End detachment

Deputy William Flores has graduated from the Washington State… Continue reading

Chuck Hancock of Tacoma raises a glass to toast the launching of his boat, Diana Lee, named after his wife, which was built by the students of the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building in Port Hadlock. The boat is a 24-foot one-off design by designer Jonathan Madison of Lummi Island and was trailered in and launched from the travel lift at Point Hudson Marina on Friday morning. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Boat launched

Chuck Hancock of Tacoma raises a glass to toast the launching of… Continue reading

Potential solution coming to fix Hoh Road

Commissioner: Past sources not an option

Legislative conversations focus on federal changes

State-level housing bills also top priority

Quillayute Valley School District maintenance and facilities manager Bill Henderson, left, and Superintendent Diana Reaume check out the site on campus where new softball and baseball fields will be constructed. The $3 million project is scheduled to open sometime in 2026. (Paula Hunt/Peninsula Daily News)
Forks baseball, softball teams to get new fields

State grant to help fund $3 million project