Strong winds over Snohomish and Island counties lasted for several hours. A woman was killed in the Monroe area when a tree fell on the minivan she was driving.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.
Strong winds over Snohomish and Island counties lasted for several hours. A woman was killed in the Monroe area when a tree fell on the minivan she was driving.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 20, 8:00 AM PST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA 900 AM PDT FRI MAR 20 2009 .SYNOPSIS...A STRONG UPPER LEVEL SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL COMBINE WITH A WEAK COLD FRONT TO BRING RAIN TO WESTERN WASHINGTON TODAY. A COOLER AIR MASS WILL MOVE OVER THE AREA TONIGHT AND SATURDAY WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE AROUND TO MAINTAIN A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH OFFSHORE WILL MOVE SLOWLY INLAND SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY...MAINTAINING A CHANCE OF SHOWERS OVER THE AREA. A WARM FRONT WILL BRING RAIN TO THE AREA MONDAY WITH A SERIES OF SYSTEMS MAINTAINING UNSETTLED WEATHER THROUGH MID WEEK. && .SHORT TERM...THE SYSTEM OFFSHORE IS SHOWING SOME SIGNS OF INTENSIFICATION WITH CLOUD TOP BRIGHTENING NOTED ON IR IMAGERY. RADAR SHOWS MODERATE RAIN FILLING IN ACROSS THE N COAST WHICH WILL SLOWLY SPREAD INLAND THROUGH THE DAY. THE 06Z GFS SHOW SOME TROUGH/SFC DEVELOPMENT NOT SHOWN BY PREVIOUS RUN WHICH TRACKS NE INTO VANCOUVER ISLAND BY 18Z WHICH WILL HELP SLOW THE PROGRESS OF THE SYSTEM EWD A BIT. THE MORE STEADY RAIN ACROSS THE INTERIOR WILL LIKELY WAIT UNTIL AFTER 18Z WITH STRONG 40 KT SWLY FLOW ALOFT. THIS WILL PROVIDE GOOD OROGRAPHIC LIFT ALONG S/SW FACING SLOPES OF THE OLYMPICS AND CASCADES. THIS WILL NOT PRODUCE A LOT OF SNOW AT MOST PASSES BUT THE S FACING SLOPES OF THE OLYMPICS/N CASCADES SHOULD DO QUITE WELL WITH 6 TO 10 INCHES OF SNOW EXPECTED THROUGH THIS EVENING. THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THOSE AREAS LOOKS GOOD. THE FLOW DOES TURNS WLY THIS EVENING FOR A BURST OF SNOW AT THE PASSES...EVEN IN THE CENTRAL CASCADES. HOWEVER...THE 850 MB FLOW IS ONLY ABOUT 15-20 KT AND FOR LESS THAN A 6 HOUR WINDOW. IT LOOKS LIKE MAYBE 2 TO 4 INCHES COULD FALL AT STEVENS OR SNOQUALMIE THIS EVENING...LIKELY BELOW ADVISORY LEVELS. THE GFS IS A LITTLE COLDER THAN YESTERDAYS RUN...BACK DOWN TO -4 OR -5C AT 850B WHICH MIGHT PUT SNOW LEVELS DOWN TO AROUND 2000 FEET OR SO. TEMPS BEHIND THE FRONT DO NOT APPEAR COLD ENOUGH FOR ANY LOWLAND MIX. MODELS SHOW A LULL IN SHOWER ACTIVITY LATER FRIDAY NIGHT WHICH COULD EXTEND INTO SATURDAY AS THE NEXT APPROACHING TROUGH SLOWS AND SPLITS. BOTH THE GFS/ECMWF HAVE SHOWED THIS FOR SEVERAL DAYS NOW BUT THE QUESTION REMAINS AS TO HOW MUCH NORTHERN STREAM ENERGY AFFECTS WA. WITH THE SLOWING AND SPLITTING TREND SHOWN BY BOTH MODELS...POPS HAVE BEEN REDUCED FURTHER FOR THE FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY PERIOD WHICH SEEMS REASONABLE. BY SUNDAY...THE BULK OF ENERGY IS EVEN FURTHER SOUTH THAN YESTERDAYS RUNS SHOWED...WAY DOWN OVER SRN CA. ITS HARD TO IMAGINE MUCH MOISTURE OR DYNAMICS THIS FAR N BUT THE GFS STILL WANTS TO BRING A WEAK TROUGH AXIS ACROSS WITH A FEW SHOWERS. STILL CANT REMOVE POPS FOR SUNDAY BUT WE COULD VERY WELL END UP DRY...AT LEAST BY AFTERNOON AS THE TROUGH AXIS MOVES BY. BOTH THE ECMWF/GFS SHOW A DRY PERIOD SUNDAY NIGHT AHEAD OF A WARM FRONT MONDAY. POPS MIGHT BE A LITTLE HIGH AND MAY LOWER THEM IF MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW BRIEF RIDGING. MERCER .LONG TERM...PREVIOUS DISCUSSION FOLLOWS...GFS/ECMWF STILL BRING A WARM FRONT OVER W WA ON MONDAY. STILL SOME DOUBT ON TIMING...GFS IS FASTER. THIS WOULD AFFECT THE SHORT DRY PERIOD SUNDAY NIGHT AS A WEAK UPPER RIDGE MOVES QUICKLY ACROSS THE AREA. IF THE SLOWER ECMWF IS RIGHT...THE DRY PERIOD WILL BE LONGER. A STRONG WESTERLY JETSTREAM WILL MAINTAIN AN ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN NEXT WEEK. LATEST GFS SUGGESTS A DRYISH TUESDAY WITH PROBABLY SOME SHOWERS AROUND. THEN WARM ADVECTION RAIN STARTING TO RAMP UP AGAIN SOMETIME WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. KAM && .AVIATION...SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT AS SURFACE AND UPPER TROUGH APPROACH THE COAST. SURFACE FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH WESTERN WASHINGTON TODAY WITH MODERATE ONSHORE FLOW BEHIND THE FRONT. RAIN AT TIMES WILL CHANGE TO SCATTERED SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. A PUGET SOUND CONVERGENCE ZONE IS POSSIBLE IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. CEILINGS MOSTLY MVFR THIS MORNING WITH LOCAL IFR. THESE WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE MORNING WITH A TREND DOWNWARD AS THE FRONT APPROACHES AND RAIN DEVELOPS. IN THE 21Z-00Z PERIOD THERE WILL BE A CHANGE TO MORE BROKEN SKIES WITH SOME CLEAR AREAS. KPAE-KSEA REGION WILL PROBABLY NOT SEE MUCH CLEARING UNTIL AFTER 03Z AS A PUGET SOUND CONVERGENCE ZONE IS POSSIBLE HERE. KSEA...CEILINGS LIKELY IN THE LOW END OF THE RANGES MENTIONED ABOVE. RAIN AT TIMES THIS MORNING THEN SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON. PSCZ...IF ONE FORMS...SEEMS LIKELY TO STAY NORTH OF KSEA. SHOULD HAVE IMPROVING CEILINGS AFTER 00Z...MAYBE EVEN SOME HOURS OF SCATTERED CLOUDS THIS EVENING. WIND SE 6-10 THIS MORNING...INCREASING SOMEWHAT EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...THEN SW 10-20 AFTER 21Z FOR A FEW HOURS. CHB && .MARINE...FORECAST SEEMS ON TRACK WITH ALL WATERS HAVING SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES. WINDS OF THAT STRENGTH ALREADY NOTED ON THE COAST AND IN ADMIRALTY INLET. SHOULD BE A DECENT ONSHORE PUSH THIS AFTERNOON WITH WESTERLIES IN THE STRAIT AND SW WINDS OVER PUGET SOUND. WINDS DIMINISH TONIGHT AND ARE LIGHT MOST OF SATURDAY. MODERATE SYSTEMS DUE SUNDAY AND AGAIN MONDAY. CHB && .SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY OLYMPICS AND NORTH CASCADES. PZ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES ALL WATERS AND GRAYS HARBOR BAR. WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE FOR AN ILLUSTRATED VERSION OF THE FORECAST DISCUSSION PLEASE VISIT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE/GAFD/LATESTWEBAFD.HTML (ALL LOWERCASE)
1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A woman was killed, and a man injured, when a tree fell on their minivan while driving near Monroe. A few other trees were blown down, one damaging a parked truck. About 100 customers lost power.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strong Wind, Everett and Vicinity | 2009-03-20 | 46 | Female | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, March 2009
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 160684.