Tonight, Seattle and environs is poised for it's biggest windstorm in over ten years. According a local news story:
Ted Beuhner of the National Weather Service told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News the storm will be stronger than the one last February, when 250,000 homes lost power just before the Super Bowl.
Aren't you glad the Bush Administration (such as it is) hasn't infiltrated the National Weather Service yet?
Oh, yeah...right.
I've lived in the Emerald City and environs for over eight years, and the last time we had a windstorm even close to this I lost power for 4 1/2 days. And at the time I lived not too far from where I am now...a outlying neighborhood of a major suburb.
Old Abe and I live on top of a hill. Tonight, with nearly an inch of rain falling an hour, we canvassed our street with a broom, clearing branches and leaves from storm drains as lightning flashed and the winds (which are weenie compared to what's coming) roared. To many people, 60-70 mph wind gusts are "weenie". But here, where there are more trees than people and a helluva lot of rain, we're primed for power outages and flooding that can rival a hurricane.
That doesn't include those poor climbers trapped up on Mt. Hood down in Oregon, who're under a blizzard warning tonight. Above 4000 ft. (Mt. Hood's summit is over 10,000 ft.) they're expecting winds between 100-120 mph. Send good karma/thoughts/prayers their way. They need it, as do their rescuers.
So with a little bit of merlot in the bottom of my glass, I bid you all good night. We'll see how long the lack of power lasts when it comes.
Fondly,
Auntie