The Storm Reveals Itself

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.

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.

Expect the strongest winds in Seattle between 7 and 9 PM, with weakening after that.