The low center is now within range of the coastal radar and is crossing some of the coastal buoys, so we know a great deal more than a few hours ago. Here is the visible satellite image at 3:15 PM. You can see the clouds swirling around the nearly clear "eye" of the storm located southeast of the NW tip of the Olympic Peninsula.
Expect the strongest winds in Seattle between 7 and 9 PM, with weakening after that.
The 4 PM radar shows the swirl of some precipitation bands around the low center.
The latest observations suggest the storm is considerably weaker than forecast, with a low center of 970-972 hPa. It is also moving faster than predicted, by 1-2 hours, and 50-75 km farther offshore.
These changes will lessen the impacts everywhere, but particularly over Seattle a and southward. Winds will increase and get gusty, with some scattered power outages. But this is not going to be a Chanukah Eve or Inauguration Day Storm in the central Puget Sound area.
Stronger winds (gusts to 40-45 mph) have now hit the Olympia region and will spread northward and winds have gusted to 70-80 mph at Destruction Is, off our north/central coast, and 50-60 mph at several coastal locations.
Max gusts last 24 hours.
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