High winds knocked down power lines in Whatcom and Skagit counties Tuesday morning, Jan. 9, and heavy snow is dumping on Mt. Baker Ski Area — with a chance of high winds disrupting skiers’ runs Tuesday afternoon.
Nearly 2,000 Puget Sound Energy customers were without power as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, including 257 in downtown Sedro-Woolley and about 1,500 near Alger. Some of the outages were caused by downed power lines, according to PSE’s outage map.
Later this week, northwest Washington residents will need to brace themselves for frigid conditions.
Temperatures will begin to plummet around midday Thursday, Jan. 11, as a blast of Arctic air blows in from the Fraser Valley in British Columbia. The low temperature Friday morning is expected to be 14 degrees in Bellingham.
“You guys are going to get really cold, especially with the wind chill values,” meteorologist Dev McMillian said. “It could feel like it’s below zero.”
The latest forecast shows an increasing probability for snow at low elevations starting Thursday, but the Weather Service doesn’t have a handle quite yet on how much snow will fall across western Whatcom and Skagit counties.
For now, forecasters are talking in probabilities rather than total snow amounts.
Western Whatcom County has a 35–50% chance of getting an inch or more of snow by Thursday afternoon, McMillian said. Chances for additional accumulations of an inch or more of snow persist through Sunday, Jan. 14.
“Hopefully in the next day or so, we’ll have a better idea” of snow totals, McMillian said.
New snow is already being measured by the foot at Mt. Baker Ski Area, General Manager Mike Trowbridge said.
The ski area recorded 13 inches over the previous 24 hours, Trowbridge said Tuesday morning. Another 32–35 inches is predicted for the next three days, with a fresh storm possibly dumping another 15 inches at Heather Meadows on Saturday, Jan. 13, Trowbridge said.
The cold front that swept through Whatcom County overnight could kick up the winds at the ski area on Tuesday afternoon, Trowbridge said.
“For us, the wind is the real challenge from a visibility standpoint and to operate lifts safely,” he said Tuesday morning. “We’re not even close to that point now.”
A blizzard warning remains in effect for elevations above 2,000 feet, including Mt. Baker Ski Area, until 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 10.
Flooding is also a concern, in coastal areas. A coastal flood advisory will remain in effect until 4 p.m. Tuesday for western Whatcom and Skagit counties, due to low air pressure coupled with high tides.
The San Juan Islands face a more serious threat and are under a coastal flood warning until 4 p.m. Tuesday. Coastal areas on the San Juans might have 2 or 3 feet of sea-level rise during king tides.
This story will be updated.
