Christmas by candle light, anyone?
Strong wind gusts blowing in Christmas Eve could mean power outages at dinner time, so channel your Ebenezer Scrooge, slap on a night cap and cozy nightgown and be ready to navigate the dark with a candleholder in hand.
A weather system tracking up the coast from Northern California could hit Western Washington from Vancouver all the way up to Bellingham with 40 to 50 mph wind gusts Wednesday afternoon and evening, said National Weather Service meteorologist Jacob DeFlitch.
Those winds could be stronger than 55 mph, DeFlitch said, or they could be less powerful. If it tracks further inland, the severity will die down, but if it maintains its coastal path, the system will keep its strength.
The severe winds could last a few hours, DeFlitch said. And given the moistness of the soil after the back-to-back atmospheric rivers, downed trees are possible.
The windstorm is reminiscent of the snowstorm that nearly canceled Christmas in the 1964 Rankin-Bass “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” with Christmas trees swaying, wayward ornaments clinking together and elves blowing in the wind as they try to weigh down presents.
But unlike the famous Christmas Eve storm, we won’t need the titular bioluminescent snow steed because, well, there won’t be any snow.
The wind will have passed by Christmas morning and the only precipitation we’ll see are showers in the afternoon, DeFlitch said. Snow is only expected at 2,000 to 3,500 feet.
“No White Christmas this year,” he said.
