West Seattle Weather Watch: Wind advisory tonight; snow possible Monday night; that erroneous ‘blizzard alert’

(Added 6:38 pm: Rainy Junction evening; photo by Nick Adams for WSB)
3:31 PM: What was a National Weather Service high-wind watch for our area is now a wind advisory, 10 pm tonight till 4 pm tomorrow – see it here. We’ll be updating throughout the night/morning. There’s also a “coastal flood advisory” for “minor tidal overflow” in waterfront areas 7 am-11 am tomorrow, since the wind will coincide with a very high tide (12.9 feet, 8:17 am Monday). And then, the forecast for Monday night and Tuesday DOES suggest some snow on the hills. However, as we’ve already noted via Facebook and Twitter – if you received a “blizzard warning” on your phone, that does NOT involve our area – just the mountains.

5:36 PM UPDATE: Seattle City Light has updated its Power Lines site to say it’s prepared in case of outages, with extra staff. And regarding that “blizzard warning,” KING5.com has the explanation.

Meteorologist Patrick December 16, 2012 (3:51 pm)

Well as far as snow is concerned it is ALREADY snowing at sea level over on the Kitsap peninsula and the newest NAM and 18Z GFS both show the storm moving in south of us thus allowing for much colder air to wrap around behind the front possibly changing ALL precip to snow later tonight and tomorrow, I will wait for the evening model package before jumping the gun on that idea for lowland snow, I will post updates here often throughout the night.

Arctic Express 2012!!!! December 16, 2012 (5:01 pm)

Probably much ado about nothing. Time for Jim Forman to dust off his parka……

MercyMoi December 16, 2012 (5:32 pm)

That NWS text to my phone was annoying. The first ever weather alert text I’ve received and it doesn’t even apply to my location.

WSB December 16, 2012 (5:33 pm)

Do you have Verizon? Everyone we’ve heard from who got it is a Verizon customer – although we have two Verizon smartphones and neither got it – I haven’t seen an explanation yet (though many have mentioned it) but am looking around.

MercyMoi December 16, 2012 (5:39 pm)

My husband and I both received the text and we have TMobile.

Meteorologist Patrick December 16, 2012 (5:43 pm)

The very likely reason so many people got those text messages is b/c when weather alerts go out to mobile customers it is done on a county wide based system resulting in alerts for people in-county even though the alert is for a specific region within that county thus the BLIZZARD WARNING for King county even though it only applies to the affected counties portion of the cascades

WSB December 16, 2012 (5:49 pm)

Just found the explanation – in two places:
http://www.king5.com/news/Text-message-warning-of-blizzard-freaks-out-people-in-Pierce-King-counties-183720471.html
.
It’s the government’s fault, basically, thanks to a new system of alerts that will come through whether you signed up for them or not.
.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/com/weatherreadynation/wea.html#faq1

mrsB December 16, 2012 (5:48 pm)

The NWS severe weather alerts are sent out by county and since King county encompasses a large area including higher elevations, the alert was received in our area too. I’d rather have the alerts, even if not applicable this time, than be caught unprepared in a weather situation.

Swiss miss December 16, 2012 (5:48 pm)

Thanks Patrick! Thanks WSB!

sam-c December 16, 2012 (5:51 pm)

We got in on T-mobile too. Phone made the noise like the emergency alert. So annoying. We weren’t even near seattle at the time. People on the train looking at us funny cause we keep getting these alerts

MercyMoi December 16, 2012 (6:20 pm)

Seriously, my phone made the same emergency alert sounds. Never have heard this from my phone before, never have gotten such a text before. If they make such unnerving alarms for issues not affecting people, I fear a bit of the Boy Who Cried Wolf may play out…

ScottA December 16, 2012 (6:21 pm)

For the record – I’m OK with an annoyance a couple times a year if it helps people realize there’s a serious weather threat. I was in Sun Valley, ID over Labor Day weekend and received my first weather warning – about a nearby tornado threat although it was extremely unlikely that we were going to get a tornado where we were.

If I had family or friends planning to go over the pass and I hadn’t been paying attention to forecasts/news but did have my phone on me I could have cautioned them about trying to go over the pass.

Flickertail December 16, 2012 (7:28 pm)

Hey, all. You might want to consider getting your noses out of your “smart” phones and check out the Weather Channel. Either online or on the TV. It might surprise you at the “heads up” that are available. They even show radar a hundred miles out. And, gasp, color-coded to indicate snow, rain, or a mixture.

Mark December 16, 2012 (7:42 pm)

Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

D1 December 16, 2012 (9:27 pm)

@ Patrick any updates?

blue December 16, 2012 (11:05 pm)

TOO MUCH RAIN….gonna be a loooong winter

sam-c December 17, 2012 (8:33 am)

for the record flickertail: I don’t even own a smart phone. when we replaced our phone recently, they had to go digging around in the supply room to find a ‘basic’ flip phone. I was on a 3 hour train ride and was so confused by the basic and un-enlightening text from t-mobile:

“There is a blizzard warning in your area. avoid all travel”

my nose wasn’t in a ‘smart’ phone but pressed up against window to enjoy the scenery- that was not snowy

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