Saturday mid-day update: If you've been outside already today, you wouldn't think there's a decent storm headed our way tonight! Partly-sunny, with temps in the low-60s by later this afternoon...a pretty nice fall day! But it's a different story tonight...
The system will begin impacting the coast around dinner-time, and scoot inland from there. Things will ramp up quickly around here about 9pm - expect heavy rain and gusty winds to ramp up pretty quickly. The bulk of the rain should be done around midnight, but showers will continue into tomorrow...some of those could be fairly heavy too, but not long-lasting. By early tomorrow morning, just under a half-inch of rain looks likely.
The NWS has a Wind Advisory out for the lowland areas closer to Puget Sound, from 6pm tonight to 4am tomorrow - calling for winds from the south at 15 to 25 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph. The majority of the Plateau is currently not covered by it...though due to the geography-based boundaries of the NWS zones, the area along East Lake Sammamish Parkway and central Issaquah are under the advisory. Regardless, those numbers look pretty accurate for the rest of the Plateau as well.
The window for strongest winds will be right around the same time as the strongest rain - ramping up just ahead of the rain, and tapering off a tad once the heavy rain moves through. It'll stay pretty breezy until mid-morning, as the atmosphere behind the band of rain will be pretty unstable.
Back later with another update!