High Wind — Admiralty Inlet Area, Washington

2021-01-12 to 2021-01-13 · Admiralty Inlet Area, Washington

Event narrative

The Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island reported a wind gust of 64 mph shortly after midnight on January 13. Other locations in the vicinity, including Camano Island and Camano City reported gusts of 58 mph and 44 mph, respectively.

A semi truck on SR 20 driving over the Deception Pass Bridge lost control in high winds and was partially hanging over the edge of the bridge, blocking all traffic over the bridge for several hours.

Wider weather episode

A compact area of low pressure passed over the northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula during the evening hours of January 12 into the early morning hours of Wednesday January 13, producing a very strong pressure gradient as pressure quickly began to rise on its backside. This led to a short period of strong winds, some of which on the backside of the low was channeled and enhanced by topography.

By daybreak on the 13th, as the wind began to subside, over 550,000 power outages were reported across the area.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 939389. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.