All about the West Seattle neighborhood around Beach Drive
Around 1:30, the wind arrived, as if Mother Nature flipped a switch from calm to crazy. Hopefully we keep power or I’ll be blogging (when I can) from my cell phone!
Tides are around 10 feet currently.
According to our local weather station, compliments of the Lipskys, the wind is 27 mph with gusts of 43.
At least it’s sunny out (right now).
This photo is from last night.
The gale warning begins at noon today through this evening. From watching the news and reading the WS Blog, it looks like the wind and rain is going to hit around 2pm today.
The Seattle PI has great tips on what to do to prepare for a big storm.
Updated marine forecast:
PZZ135-181700-
/O.EXT.KSEW.GL.W.0048.071018T1900Z-071019T0200Z/
PUGET SOUND AND HOOD CANAL-
300 AM PDT THU OCT 18 2007
…GALE WARNING NOW IN EFFECT FROM NOON PDT TODAY THROUGH THIS EVENING…
TODAY…S WIND RISING TO 20 TO 30 KT IN THE MORNING…THEN RISING TO 30 TO 40 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 3 TO 5 FT BUILDING TO 6 TO 8 FT IN THE AFTERNOON. RAIN IN THE MORNING…THEN SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.
TONIGHT…S WIND 30 TO 40 KT…BECOMING SW 20 TO 30 KT LATE IN THE EVENING…THEN BECOMING S 10 TO 20 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 6 TO 8 FT…SUBSIDING TO 1 TO 3 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT. SHOWERS LIKELY.
The Seattle PI reports that "wild windstorms may be on their way".
Here’s the Marine Forecast for Puget Sound as of this morning:
THU…SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT…BECOMING S 20 TO 30 KT EARLY IN THE AFTERNOON…THEN BECOMING SW 25 TO 40 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 2 TO 4 FT BUILDING TO 3 TO 7 FT. RAIN IN THE MORNING…THEN SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.
THU NIGHT…SW WIND 25 TO 40 KT…BECOMING S 10 TO 15 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 3 TO 7 FT…SUBSIDING TO 1 OR 2 FT AFTER MIDNIGHT.
Thursday’s high tide is at 11:51 a.m. at 10.3.
It’s amazing how much the Marine forecast can change…be sure to check often. I have a link on the left side of this blog under "Swell Links".
We started moving heavy things that like to fly across our deck (like bbqs, propane heaters, furniture, pots…etc.) to safer places and making sure our water pump has gas….
Here’s the current Puget Sound forecast for the next couple of days:
WED NIGHT…SW WIND 10 TO 15 KT…BECOMING S 10 TO 20 KT… THEN RISING TO 15 TO 25 KT LATE. WIND WAVES 1 OR 2 FT BUILDING TO 2 TO 4 FT. RAIN.
THU…SE WIND 15 TO 25 KT…BECOMING S 20 TO 30 KT IN THE AFTERNOON. WIND WAVES 2 TO 5 FT.
THU NIGHT…SW WIND 20 TO 30 KT…EASING TO 15 TO 25 KT AFTER MIDNIGHT. WIND WAVES 2 TO 5 FT.
FRI…S WIND 10 TO 20 KT…BECOMING SW 15 TO 25 KT IN THE AFTERNOON…THEN EASING TO 10 TO 15 KT IN THE EVENING. WIND WAVES 1 TO 4 FT.
For updated forecast, click here. I also have a link on the left side of this blog.
By the way, are you ready for the storms?
Winter still seems far away…but it’s not so far away that you can’t start planning for one of the big storms we’ve had. In the few years we’ve lived on Beach Drive, we’ve been pummeled 3 times with waves, salt and wind.
We’ve had some very nice neighbors who have offered to help “bail us out” and we’ve had other neighbors who were not well prepared and wanted to borrow our pumps (ummm….we were kind of using them).
Here is a quick list, if you live on the “water side” of things you may want to consider picking up before we’re in “storm season” and they’re sold out. (We have Honda’s for our generator and pumps).
You can always try renting pumps and generators. It use to be more convenient when the rental place was located on Fauntleroy instead of SODO and the storm needs to hit when the rental place is open for biz. (See note above regarding Aurora Rents).
We have a neighbor friend who keeps a “crash kit” of warm clothing ready for when it’s time to go battle the wind and waves.
This is just a few ideas in the event of a storm with high tides. What to do if we’re out of power for 5 plus days in the winter is enough for another post at a later date.
UPDATE: Since writing this post, you can connect with Beach Drive Blog with Twitter @BeachDriveBlog or Facebook fb.com/beachdriveblog using your cell phones should we lose power.
I tried capturing photos (which is pretty tricky)…the storm appeared to be over Gig Harbor and Vashon Island from our viewpoint.
Check out West Seattle Blog for some excellent photos submitted by one of their readers.
This photo was captured yesterday pretty close to the low tide of -3.7.
High tide was 12.0. This weekend features some of the lowest tides of the year! If you’re not going to the Fremont Fair to celebrate the Summer Solstice…hanging out at home and walking the beach is a very nice option.
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