Freakish fall
Usually by this point in October, you can see what are literally the signs of fall: the “snow closure” road signs that city crews bring around and strategically tether to fixtures near steep spots — south end of Admiral, south end of Cali Ave, the nearly vertical drop on Charlestown, etc.
Instead of seeing these signs, we’re seeing record high temperatures and spectacular sunsets. So in case you’re missing typical fall weather, we found a reason to not miss it: the Columbus Day Windstorm, 44 years ago today.
Ice, ice, baby
When we moved into our house more than a few years ago, one of its selling points happened to be a relatively recent conversion to natural-gas heat. So much cheaper than oil or electric! … at the time.
Now, bills with LOTS of digits come sailing through the mail slot. And that’s just for the “average” winter temperatures we’ve had till now. Suddenly the big chill is upon us, the cars are frosted, my toes are frozen, and I can see far enough into the future to envision my first $200 heating bill spitting out of a PSE printer somewhere.
Storm? What storm?
Maybe it’s only a partial site update, but our friendly neighborhood paper has posted what looks like the weekly update tonight, and the only thing storm-related I can find so far is a bird picture oddly paired with an article about high school schedules.
Weather-related irony is lurking out there somewhere
Whatever national media might have reporters here in town to cover fans reaction to The Big Game, you know someone will write the story, should Our Team prevail, “As the sun came out after months of rain in soggy Seattle, football glory finally broke through the home team’s clouds of trophyless years.” Or something like that.
In other semi-weather-related news, the Beach Drive water woes merited just one little line in this Times report. Blink and you’ll miss it.
Can anyone tell me why even a small paper like the Herald, equipped with a 24/7 online site like just about everyone else in this day and age, can’t add breaking news like a storm damage report? Even a blog, for heaven’s sake. If they want to be the community’s source for news, it would be so easy to do.
As for that hideous WestSeattle.com — which pompously declares itself “the official site for the West Seattle community” (when did we vote; did I sleep through it?) — storm? what storm? Even tiny Caribbean island towns use their community sites for storm reports.
Rant off … for now …
Waterlogged
Just saw a TV news report (Q-13, if you’re keeping track) about flooding in a waterfront home along Beach Drive. Times like these are the only times I feel OK about not being able to afford such opulence — no chance of flooding here on the hillsides. (No, we’re not in a mudslide-prone position, either.)
As of this writing, the 520 bridge isn’t open yet — DOT has another handy page (separate from the link mentioned in the last post) with an update from just half an hour ago.
But at least here at West Seattle Blog World Headquarters, we’ll be watching The Big Game — no power woes after all.
Windstorm update, early evening
A flicker here, a flicker there, but we haven’t lost power again, here on the south side of WS. The City Light site (see link in post below) says only 50 “customers” are still powerless. Still breezy outside, but nothing too out of the ordinary, according to the National Weather Service’s current-observations page (hint, look for KBFI, which is Boeing Field, and check “sp” for sustained wind speed, “gs” for gusts).
However, the 520 bridge is still closed, one of a variety of Western Washington road closures, according to the state DOT traffic-alerts page.
Windstorm update, early afternoon
We’ve been out, as far north as the Junction, as far south as Burien.
No widespread panic, except for the crowd at the Junction liquor store trying to hoard hooch before, well, you know, that thing tomorrow.
We encountered only one spot of powerlessness, a couple blocks along Ambaum in what I fondly think of as North Burien.
If you’re in the city and you want to know what’s out where, turns out that Seattle City Light is posting updates on its site (scroll down) — fairly frequent updates, apparently; the one up now is from just 10 minutes ago.
Outage update
Westwood Village is out, according to the spouse of West Seattle Blogger, as of his visit around 10:15.
WSB World Headquarters on a hillside on the south end of the West side: not out; we had a blink around 8 am, so far as I can tell from the clocks.
Hope you are OK; more updates as we get ’em.
Complainin’ in the rain, just complainin’ in the rain …
Buried inside a National Weather Service “forecast discussion” for the next few days … a new term that hints even the NWS guys and gals are gloomed out:
LONG TERM…SURPRISE SURPRISE…NO CHANGES MADE TO THE EXTENDED
FORECAST. MODELS STILL HAVE ONE SYSTEM AFTER ANOTHER COMING INTO THE
AREA WITH RAIN AND SHOWERS AND VERY BRIEF PERIODS OF
NON-PRECIPITATION IN BETWEEN. SUNDAY NIGHT LOOKS LIKE IT COULD BE A
LITTLE WINDY. OTHER THAN THAT…NOTHING NEW TO TALK ABOUT.
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