A woman and two men were on a 21-foot catamaran that overturned in high winds and choppy water Sunday on Lake Washington near Bellevue. The police department’s Harbor Patrol pulled the men out of the water, but the woman was trapped beneath the catamaran and drowned.
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.
A woman and two men were on a 21-foot catamaran that overturned in high winds and choppy water Sunday on Lake Washington near Bellevue. The police department’s Harbor Patrol pulled the men out of the water, but the woman was trapped beneath the catamaran and drowned.
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 Sep 20, 2:30 PM PST, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA 330 PM PDT SUN SEP 20 2015 .SYNOPSIS...A COLD FRONT MOVING DOWN FROM THE NORTHWEST WILL BRING RAIN AND WINDY CONDITIONS THIS EVENING. WEAK HIGH PRESSURE WILL BE IN CONTROL THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK. ANOTHER FRONT WILL ARRIVE THURSDAY NIGHT. && .SHORT TERM...A COLD FRONT WILL CONTINUE PUSHING S/SE THROUGH WESTERN WA THIS EVENING. SO FAR MOST OF THE RAIN HAS BEEN FALLING OVER THE NORTHERN TIER OF THE CWA BUT PRECIP WILL SPREAD FARTHER SOUTH WITH THE FRONT. SEATTLE HAS BEEN DRY AND EVEN PARTLY SUNNY AT TIMES...BUT IT LOOKS LIKE WE MAY SEE A LITTLE LIGHT PRECIP FROM 00- 06Z THIS EVENING WITH UP TO 0.10 INCHES. RAIN WILL END BY MIDNIGHT TONIGHT WITH THE FRONT PUSHING INTO THE CASCADES. IT HAS BEEN WINDY ACROSS THE AREA TODAY BUT WINDS WILL EASE BEHIND THE FRONT THIS EVENING AS THE FLOW TURNS N/NW. THERE WAS BRIEF WIND ADVISORY SPEEDS AT KPAE OTHERWISE WINDS HAVE BEEN BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA. SKIES WILL CLEAR A BIT OVERNIGHT WITH LOWS DROPPING INTO THE 40S TO LOWER 50S. THERE WILL BE PATCHY FOG IN THE MORNING...OTHERWISE WITH WEAKER ONSHORE FLOW WE SHOULD HAVE MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES ON MONDAY. TEMPS WILL REMAIN ON THE COOL SIDE WITH HIGHS IN THE LOW TO MID 60S. A WEAK UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL PASS THROUGH SOUTHERN B.C. ON TUE BUT STAY CLEAR FROM WESTERN WA. THEN A WEAK FRONT MAY CLIP THE COASTAL WATERS AND COAST ON WEDNESDAY FOR A CHANCE OF RAIN. BESIDES THAT THE FORECAST LOOKS DRY FOR THE REST OF THE CWA. TEMPS WILL REMAIN BELOW NORMAL THROUGH THE PERIOD. IN FACT WE MAY SEE LOWS IN THE UPPER 30S TUE MORNING...ESPECIALLY IN THE SW INTERIOR. 33 .LONG TERM...MODELS SHOW A WEAK SPLITTING FRONT MOVING INLAND THURSDAY NIGHT FOR SOME RAIN. THE TIMING IS GETTING SLOWER AND WILL LIKELY NEED TO LOWER POPS DURING THE DAY ON THURSDAY. SO THURSDAY IS NOW LOOKING DRIER. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL MAINTAIN A FEW MORE SHOWERS AS WE MOVE INTO FRIDAY. AFTER THAT...THE MODELS DISAGREE ON THE TIMING OF THE NEXT SYSTEM OVER THE WEEKEND. THE ECMWF TRACKS A CLOSED LOW DOWN THE COAST WHILE THE GFS BRINGS A TROUGH INLAND. FOR NOW WILL TREND CLOSE TO CLIMO. 33 && .AVIATION...A STRONG CDFNT HAS MOVED ONTO THE FAR N COAST. THIS FRONT WILL SWEEP ACROSS THE REST OF THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON...AND SHOULD BE E OF THE CASCADES BY 0200 UTC. STRONG WLY FLOW ALOFT. STRONG LOW LEVEL ONSHORE FLOW WILL WEAKEN OVERNIGHT. EXPECT AREAS OF 1-3K FT CIGS...EXCEPT OVER THE COAST WHERE THERE WILL BE AREAS OF 1-3SM VSBYS AND CIGS BLO 1K FT. KSEA...A CONVERGENCE ZONE IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP IN THE VICINITY OF KPAE BETWEEN 0000 AND 0200 UTC. THIS CONVERGENCE ZONE IS ANTICIPATED TO MOVE S...REACHING THE TERMINAL ABOUT 0600 UTC. THUS...EXPECT A WIND SHIFT FROM SLY TO NLY ABOUT 0600 UTC. THERE WILL LIKELY BE A PERIOD DURING WHICH WINDS WILL BE NLY AT KBFI BUT STILL SLY AT THE TERMINAL. EXPECT OCNL CIGS IN THE 2-3K FT RANGE... ESPECIALLY WITH THE FROPA...WHICH IS ANTICIPATED ABOUT 0000 UTC. && .MARINE... A STRONG COLD FRONT EXTENDING FROM A 999 MB LOW OVER BRITISH COLUMBIA WILL SWEEP ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON. A 1024 MB HIGH OVER THE OFFSHORE WATERS AND LOWER PRES E OF THE CASCADES WILL KEEP THE FLOW MODERATE TO STRONG ONSHORE TONIGHT. LIGHT ONSHORE FLOW WILL PREVAIL MON THROUGH WED. && .SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WA...NONE. PZ...GALE WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT FOR THE CENTRAL/EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA...ADMIRALTY INLET...AND PUGET SOUND/HOOD CANAL. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES ARE IN EFFECT FOR THE REMAINING WATERS. && WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE AN ILLUSTRATED VERSION OF THIS FORECAST DISCUSSION CAN BE SEEN AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE/GAFD/LATEST_WEBAFD.HTML
1 strong wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A woman and two men were on a 21-foot catamaran that overturned in high winds and choppy water around 5 p.m. on Lake Washington near Bellevue. The police department’s Harbor Patrol pulled the men out of the water, but the woman was trapped beneath the catamaran and drowned.
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, Bellevue and Vicinity | 2015-09-20 | 25 | Female | In Water | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, September 2015
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: 602412.