High Wind — Western Strait of Juan De Fuca, Washington

2006-11-15 · Western Strait of Juan De Fuca, Washington

Event narrative

Some buildings, homes and cars were damaged. The cars were damaged from wind borne debris. A spotter between Sekiu and Clallam Bay reported winds gusting into the 60s and 70s for most of the day (about 5 am - 3 pm).

Wider weather episode

A pair of strong wind storms struck western Washington on the night of Nov 12th and early on the 13th, and again on the night of Nov 14th through the 15th. Each storm brought strong damaging winds to the area as the parent low pressure systems tracked from off the south coast northeast into southern British Columbia.

The Nov 12-13 storm brought sustained winds of 40 mph with gusts near 60 mph along the coast. Winds of 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph were observed in the north interior from Whidbey Island northward and in parts of the southwest interior of Washington.

The Nov 14-15 storm was the stronger of the two events. Winds of 40-60 mph with gusts up to 80 mph occurred along the Washington coast. In the north interior, from the northern Kitsap Peninsula northward, sustained winds of 35 to 50 mph with gusts to around 65 mph were reported. In the southwest Washington interior, sustained winds of 40 mph with gusts to 60 mph were reported. What was unique with this event is that winds capable of producing damage persisted for 6 to 12 hours. This duration is much longer than normal for most damaging wind events. The strongest reported wind gust was 95 mph atop Ellis Mountain 13 miles north of Forks.

Hundreds of trees were blown down and power was knocked out for about 150,000 people, primarily in the second wind event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 3169. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.