An umbrella today, may not help much.
You’ve likely noticed, it’s already quite windy and wet today.
The National Weather Service is predicting a blustery Thursday, with sustained southerly winds (25-40 MPH) and gusts up to 60 MPH from 10 AM to 7 PM in the Seattle area. To that effect, they’ve issued a High Wind Warning for today, 7 AM – 7 PM. Stay inside as you can and take a look at our quick windy weather tips below. Please take extra care when traveling, and if possible avoid commuting, during the high wind times.
Image courtesy of National Weather Service.
Quick tips:
✔️ Safety
Look out for each other. It’s no fun being outside in this type of weather. If you’re driving, be extra mindful of pedestrians and people biking. If you’re walking or biking, make sure you can see and be seen. We have safety lights if you need any! Let us know. Drivers, be sure to turn your headlights on.
✔️ Trains, buses, and ferries
Metro’s Thursday AM Commute: Service delays are expected to subside as the peak commute winds down; visit the Get Ready website for SR 99 closure updates. See the latest information on their blog. They’ll keep their eye on the King County Metro Transit commute from 6-9 AM and again from 3-7 PM and will post about service disruptions. Follow their RSS feed for real-time updates, bookmark their blog, or visit the Metro Online website for additional information and services. If you take the train, find Sound Transit alerts and information here. For Ferry info, please visit Washington State Ferries’ Travel Alert Bulletins, Kitsap Transit’s Fast Ferry, and/or WSDOT’s ferries site regarding your ferry commute.
You can also follow:
✔️ Outages
If you notice a downed power line, DO NOT touch or approach it. Please report downed wires or outages to Seattle City Light at 206.684.7400. Check out City Light’s outage map and tips for what to do when your power goes out. When traffic lights are out, treat the intersection as a 4-way stop. You can also stay connected, even when the power is out by downloading Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) mobile app, to track and report power outages in your neighborhood and check status and estimated restoration times, all in the palm of your hand. Follow PSE on Twitter.
✔️ Fallen trees or branches
If you notice fallen trees or other debris blocking streets or sidewalks, contact our 24-hour dispatch crews at 206.386.1218.
✔️ Blocked gutters or flooding
If you see a blocked gutter, please help clear the leaves and debris to keep the 80,000 storm drains throughout our city flowing smoothly and to help prevent flooding. Please report flooding issues to Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) at 206.386.1800. Follow SPU on Twitter.
✔️ Park facilities
Park programs and facilities may be affected. Please check the @SeattleParks Twitter channel, blog, and/or website.
✔️ Winter storm planning
For information on planning for the winter storm season, like what you should include in your emergency preparedness kit, check out Take Winter By Storm, our multi-agency preparedness site. For the latest emergency notifications, sign up for Alert Seattle to get alerts via text, tweet, and more. You can also follow the National Weather Service Seattle’s Twitter.
Learn about our Winter Weather Response.
Check out our Winter Weather Response webpage for a winter weather response map, winter weather brochure, and snow route map. Learn about our winter environment and what to expect if it snows.