High wind occurred on the Washington coast and over the north interior.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
High wind occurred on the Washington coast and over the north interior.
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 Apr 4, 8:06 AM PST, 3 hours 58 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Seattle WA
906 AM PDT Tue Apr 4 2017
.SYNOPSIS...A frontal system just offshore will bring a little light
rain to the coast and areas west of Puget Sound today, with light
rain spreading across all of Western Washington tonight. A cold
front will move slowly inland on Wednesday before stalling and
weakening. Rain will continue at times Wednesday night and Thursday
as a couple of troughs move northeast across the area. A series of
weather systems will bring clouds and periods of rain through this
weekend.
&&
.SHORT TERM...Screeeeccchhh!! Hit the brakes. No 60s this week.
Incoming cloud cover from the frontal system just offshore is pretty
thick and current temperatures in the lower 40s at 8 AM have too far
to go to reach 60. 850 MB warm advection in the models doesn't look
quite strong enough to bridge that difference. Timing on the rain
spreading inland remains pretty close to previous forecasts,
reaching the coast later this morning and then areas W of Puget
Sound this afternoon. Only difference is some light rain could creep
in over the W part of Puget Sound later this afternoon. Light rain
is expected over all of W WA tonight but with just light
accumulations from Puget Sound eastward.
The models have changed the evolution of the frontal system,
bringing the cold front inland more quickly. The cold front will
reach the WA coast Wednesday morning then move slowly inland over
Puget Sound around midday, where it will stall and weaken. A couple
of upper level shortwaves troughs embedded in the SW flow aloft over
the region will move NE along the old cold front boundary and across
w WA. The GFS has the first shortwave arriving Wednesday evening
while the ECMWF is slightly faster. The GFS and ECMWF agree on
bringing a stronger shortwave trough across the area on Thursday. Kam
.LONG TERM...Active weather will continue all the way into early
next week. There could be a brief break Thursday night between
systems, but the models agree a well developed system will reach the
area Thursday night through Friday night. The cold front will move N
across the area Friday followed by the upper level low Friday night.
The associated surface low moving N just offshore Friday afternoon
and evening could generate locally windy conditions. Another upper
level trough will cross the area Saturday. Another system will
arrive early next week. Kam
&&
.AVIATION...Mid level overcast will continue to slowly sink over
the course of the day as a frontal system that is offshore edges
our way. The rain should start in the middle of the afternoon on
the coast and spread to the I-5 corridor this evening.
Low level offshore flow, the air is stable. Southwest flow aloft
increasing.
KSEA...Mid level cig slowly descends with rain starting this evening.
&&
.MARINE...A strong frontal system offshore will move ashore but
weaken considerably tonight into Wednesday. Winds over the
coastal waters should rise to gales with and small craft advisory
level winds developing most areas tonight, though probably not
for Puget Sound. Seas will build on the coast--building to 10 and 15
feet tonight. From the overnight discussion...another weather
system is expected to approach the area on Friday with a deep low
weakening through Saturday. The GFS takes this weakening low through
Western Washington early Saturday while the Euro and Canadian swing
it offshore and then northwest off Vancouver Island. The offshore
solution is more likely but this situation bears watching. Gale
force winds likely for the coastal waters.
&&
.HYDROLOGY...
River flooding is not expected the next 7 days.
&&
.SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...None.
PZ...Gale warning coastal waters.
Small craft advisory west entrance, Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Additional small craft advisories for the east entrance to the
Strait and the Northern Inland waters are in effect for tonight.
&&
www.weather.gov/seattle
An illustrated version of this forecast discussion can be seen at
www.weather.gov/seattle/gafd/latest_webafd.htmlThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
7 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Lopez Island recorded sustained wind of 41 mph, gusting to 65 mph.
Destruction Island C-MAN recorded sustained wind of 50 KT or greater over several hours. This translates to gusts of 58 mph or greater over the mainland.
The KHQM ASOS recorded high wind over several hours, including sustained wind of 46 mph and a peak gust of 66 mph. A weather spotter near Pacific Beach recorded a 60 mph gust. The Westport tide gauge also had a 60 mph gust.
The KNUW ASOS recorded a peak wind of 59 mph. A weather spotter near Coupeville recorded sustained wind of 41 mph, gusting to 58 mph. Another spotter 8 miles northwest of Langley recorded a gust of 58 mph.
An instrument near Maltby recorded a 65 mph gust.
Blanchard Mountain recorded sustained wind of 44 mph, with a peak gust of 63 mph.
The KBLI ASOS recorded sustained wind of 40 mph, gusting to 61 mph. A CWOP site just southwest of Bellingham recorded sustained wind of 44 mph, gusting to 63 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, April 2017
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: 683680, 683676, 683675, 683683, 683686, 683681, 683678.