Washington
Windstorm to hit western Washington on Christmas Eve with gusts up to 70 mph
WASHINGTON STATE — All is calm, all is bright for Christmas Eve-eve…not so much for Christmas Eve itself.
An unusual windstorm will slingshot up the west coast, making for a windy Wednesday in western Washington as we head into the holiday. A pre-emptive HIGH WIND WATCH has been issued by the National Weather Service to account for strong and potentially damaging easterly and then southerly winds, but I expect that to turn over to a HIGH WIND WARNING as we get closer and these gusts look imminent.
ALSO SEE: Mountain snow, gusty winds and heavy showers expected for Christmas Eve
In the short-term, things are quiet enough for now. Mainly cloudy skies will tuck us in, but because the air mass is still seasonably chilly, we’ll drop back into the 30s by dawn. The passes are very passable, but could be icy as lows plunge into the 20s overnight.
On Wednesday, things get interesting quickly. Storms don’t usually move from California right up the coast to Washington, but there has been nothing usual about this December so far, and that’s exactly the odd track this system is going to take on its way into the region.
Remember that lows act like giant vacuums in the sky, pulling air into them as they go by. This is a roughly 980 millibar low on approach–plenty deep enough to suck in air noticeably as it passes.
This howling wind-maker will work its way up toward the Washington coast by Wednesday morning. With its center still over the Pacific, the winds will be easterly.
The ocean beach communities and the foothills of the Cascades (Enumclaw, Issaquah, North Bend, and Monroe) will be subject to these easterly blows, gusting 30 to 50 mph for the first half of the day there. Why not in Seattle? The 8,000′ tall Olympics will initially act as an offensive lineman for the waterfront locations near the Sound, blocking the bulk of the windy weather before the lunch hour.
However, this low will hightail it over Neah Bay, eventually curling in over Vancouver Island by the afternoon. Now, without the shield of the Olympics between Seattle and the storm center, we’ll be subject to strong southerly (remember the wind follows the low’s movement and track, so the direction will change) gusts of 30 to 50 mph over the Sound, including in Tacoma, Olympia, Everett, and the Emerald City.
These strong winds may be enough to give us some tree damage and knock down power lines…not what we want to see on Christmas Eve! A grand finale burst of southerlies of 40 to 60 mph or more (some models suggest gusts to 70 mph) will close down the evening in Port Townsend, Oak Harbor, Friday Harbor, and Ferndale–those of you closer to British Columbia will be subject to the strongest winds right after sunset.
By the time people are heading out to the midnight mass, the windstorm should be a wrap, but it will be a dicey day beforehand. Not only will it deal with the wind, but also rain in the lowlands and bursts of heavy, blowing snow over the Cascade passes. Highs will bump up a bit, ending up closer to 50 in the metro area.
Christmas Day itself should be far easier for travelers and celebrations, with lighter rain at times and temperatures back in the more typical middle 40s. This will keep occasional snow falling over the mountains to about 3,000′ (Snoqualmie Summit level) as well.
Jordan Selesnick won the Regional Championship at SCG CON Washington DC with Azorius Momo on Sunday.
Creatures (25)
Lands (21)
In a field packed with Izzet Prowess and Mono-Green Landfall, Selesnick put the power of Azorius Momo on display — proving the power of strong metagaming and mulligan decisions. Selesnick regularly dug for better opening hands in tight matchups, allowing his deck to have starts similar to those in Modern as opposed to Standard. After an 8-1 start on Day 1, Selesnick cruised to the No. 1 seed in the Top 8 with a record of 12-1-2.
Once in the Top 8, Selesnick only dropped a single game in route to a dominant performance. He defeated Stephen Snelson, on Izzet Spellementals, 2-1 in the quarters before clean 2-0 wins against Alexander Kans, on Selesnya Aggro, and Matt Xu, on Mono-Green Landfall.
Selesnick showed off both types of powerful draws the Momo deck can have in the finals, blinking a Quantum Riddler into play on Turn 2 in Game 1, and landing a copied Sage of the Skies on Turn 2 in Game 2. With the fast starts and utility offered from Starfield Shepherd, Selesnick had no problem navigating the mid-games for fast wins facing down strong starts from Xu.
Creatures (20)
Lands (26)
Selesnick took home $20,000 and the title of champion, while Xu earned $10,000. The Top 32 finishers earned invites to the upcoming Pro Tour in Amsterdam, though Selesnick and Xu also punched their tickets to the Magic World Championship.
Izzet Prowess made up almost 25 percent of the 1,198 players on Day 1, followed by Four-Color Control at 10 percent, thanks to its strong showing in the most recent Regional Championships. Mono-Green Landfall was next at just under nine percent, while Mardu Discard and Dimir Excruciator rounded out the Top 5 decks.
Day 2 consisted of 285 players that reached 18 match points on Day 1. See how the archetypes converted below.
View the Top 8 decklists from the Regional Championship. For all the decklists from the event and final standings check out the Melee page for the tournament.
SCG CON will be back in action next in Las Vegas on June 26-28.
LONGVIEW, Wash. (KPTV/Gray News) – Officials say they have found the remains and identified all of the missing workers following a chemical vat implosion at the Nippon Dynawave paper mill on Tuesday.
The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office released the names of those killed, bringing the death toll to 11:
- 52-year-old Gilbert Bernal of Kelso, Oregon.
- 29-year-old Tyler Covington of Castle Rock, Oregon.
- 27-year-old Brad Covington of Castle Rock, Oregon.
- 48-year-old Robert Wilson of Clatskanie, Oregon.
- 54-year-old Dale Miller of Portland, Oregon.
- 35-year-old Jared Ammons of Longview, Washington.
- 38-year-old Braydon Finkas of Cathlamet, Washington.
- 26-year-old Clinton Doran of Kelso, Oregon.
- 51-year-old John Forsberg of Longview, Washington.
- 58-year-old Norman Barlow of Vancouver, Washington.
- Dillon Miller, taken to a Portland hospital; coroner has no other information.
Officials say a 900,000-gallon tank containing a highly destructive chemical called white liquor imploded at the facility just after 7:15 a.m.
Roughly 600,000 gallons of the substance rushed through work areas at the plant on Tuesday when the tank ruptured.
Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson called it “the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history.”
Multiple people, including a firefighter, were injured and taken to area hospitals for treatment following the implosion. Some of those injured were also brought to the Oregon Burn Center.
Investigators were looking into what caused the tank to implode in the first place and whether there’s a risk of it happening again.
The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said it would begin an investigation into the implosion after the recovery efforts are concluded.
Officials said some of the chemical had made its way into the Columbia River and they have received reports of dead fish near the site’s spillways.
The Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were monitoring air and water quality and working to assess any other environmental impacts.
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