(TO SEE OUR SATURDAY AFTERNOON COVERAGE, go here)

(Our Twitter video from Emma Schmitz Viewpoint as the wind and waves kicked up before dusk)>

6:46 PM: The wind has arrived, and some big rain has too. We’ve just been out in it, starting in Delridge before sunset (checking on sandbag supplies at the Community Center – plenty now), then heading toward Beach Drive, where Seattle Fire was checking on boarders and kayakers (everyone accounted for), and stormwatchers were at Emma Schmitz Viewpoint. (added) Here’s a photo from Greg, with an overview of Constellation Park at about the same time, a mile north of Emma Schmitz:

It’s nasty out there in some areas – Arbor Heights was getting walloped while we were checking on something else. Now is definitely the time to stay home. We’re back at HQ, for now, to track storm effects through the night.

7:15 PM: Sounds a little calmer out there right now. Just a few scattered, small power outages in West Seattle so far (here’s the City Light map) – including the one Amber mentioned in comments, six customers in Puget Ridge.

7:43 PM: Via Twitter, the National Weather Service is cautiously saying that seems to have been the worst of it:

The next of the NWS’s four-times-a-day “forecast discussions” should be out within an hour and a half or so, for the latest on whether we can all stand down and get back to regular fall weather. One thing that escaped attention because of the wind worries, Friday set a rainfall record for October 14th in Seattle, 1.36 inches, almost twice the previous record (.77 in 1990). At the midpoint of October, the month has almost triple its average rainfall, 4.43 inches through yesterday (1.11 is “normal”).

9:04 PM: Just back from a north-to-south tour and … definitely not stormy. The rain returned a few minutes ago, not too intense, though. And to underscore it, the National Weather Service has canceled the “high wind warning” and swapped it for a lower-level “wind advisory” through early am. Meantime, we’ve received some great videos and photos from the brief burst of stormy weather earlier:

Time lapse, from Ethan Owens:

Waves at Constellation Park, from Scott Krager:

Seattle Fire crew off Beach Drive checking on boarders/kayakers, photo by Erik Bell:

Kerriann Gill caught the storm rolling in:

(added) Texted to us – this clip of a sailboarder trying to get out of the water at Emma Schmitz Viewpoint:

9:58 PM: And here’s the NWS “forecast discussion” looking ahead. The next few days are expected to be showery but nothing like the record-setting rain of the past few days.

(FOR EVENING COVERAGE, go here)

1:03 PM: Storm-related updates as of early afternoon:

NEWEST FORECAST: Weather watchers have pulled back a BIT from the dire “possibly historic windstorm” warnings but NOT from the forecast of strong wind in general. The mid-morning National Weather Service “forecast discussion” says the big wind is most likely “late afternoon/evening.” (3:03 pm note – NWS says the wind will pick up within next 2 hours or so.)

STORM DAMAGE: Trees are still the major problem. No new big ones down so far as we have heard today, but this one was blocking the sidewalk and bike lane on the north side of Admiral west of 51st SW earlier:

That was SDOT arriving just as we were photographing it. Again, saturated ground + strong wind = tree trouble so stay out of forested parks. If a tree blocks a road/sidewalk, notify SDOT: 206-386-1218, and if you can’t get them, call 911.

TREE INJURY UPDATE: We’ve been asked about the 4-year-old boy and his dad injured by a tree branch in Fauntleroy on Friday afternoon (as covered here). A family friend tells us she’s visited them and the prognosis for the little boy, most seriously hurt, is “optimistic.”

SANDBAGS: Delridge Community Center is out again as of this writing, and South Park Community Center does not have many left. We asked Seattle Public Utilities for a supply update, and they say that the four locations around the city are expected to be resupplied sometime today. We’re told Delridge is expecting about 700 sandbags around (updated) 3:30 pm. If you need some, please only take what you need, 25 maximum, as requested in this city infosheet. (4 pm update – Sandbags have arrived)

WEATHER-RELATED CANCELLATIONS: As first noted in our daily preview (where we’re also updating the list):

*Chief Sealth IHS homecoming dance
*Hate-Free Delridge vigil
*Highland Park Improvement Club Harvest Dinner
*Lions Club Oktoberfest dinner
*Mutts & Martinis “Yappy Hour”
*Solstice P-Patch Harvest Festival
*YMCA women’s swim

Any others? Please comment, or e-mail us – thank you – and thanks in advance for sharing storm-related updates from wherever you are. Fastest way to get something to us, if happening now, is our 24/7 hotline – 206-293-6302 – please consider adding it to your phone list.

ADDED 1:46 PM: Seattle Public Library will close all its branches at 2:30 pm today.

ADDED 3:03 PM: Texter reports an Xfinity (Comcast) outage on Genesee Hill.

ADDED 3:44 PM: The new “forecast discussion” is out – key quote:

Models are slightly slower with the timing of the low moving onshore but overall things are on track for a few hours of very windy weather late this afternoon or this evening for most of the area. The latest thinking is the strongest winds will be coast and north interior, closest to the low track. High winds are still likely elsewhere but probably not as strong and a bit more spotty. The interior from Seattle south probably won`t get much if any true high wind but with leaves on the trees impacts will probably be similar to high winds in the winter.

Also of note right now – one-car crash on the westbound West Seattle Bridge east of the Fauntleroy exit, one lane blocked.

5:42 PM: Still in waiting mode. Weather analyst Cliff Mass thinks the strongest winds in the Seattle area are more likely 7-9 pm, but also says – as did the NWS – that this is no longer going to be a particularly huge storm.

6:02 PM: Out checking on a couple things: SFD boats off to see about a possible boarder in distress off 4500 block Beach Drive. And possible wires down in Arbor Heights, 40th/106th.

7 PM: Both of those situations have since been resolved, and we have launched an evening report here.