Forecasters say the worst is over ... at least for now

We're in for a real break in the weather: No more fierce winds and the chance of showers is diminishing throughout the weekend.

Today it will be mostly cloudy wth a high of 41 and low of 30. On Sunday the high will be 39 degrees and a low of 32.

"It will be quite a benign weekend," University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass said.

And don't worry about a return to the snow and icy misery of late November, said Ted Buehner of the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Thursday night's big blow surpassed the Inauguration Day storm of 1993 in the number of customers who lost power: about 1 million, compared with 700,000 back then. More people live here now, sure, but that's still a lot of darkness and coffee-less homes.

Wind speeds were comparable to Inauguration Day, and in some places higher, Mass said.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport had gusts to 69 mph early Friday, the highest in at least 30 years. But at the UW, they were 55 mph, compared with 88 mph on Inauguration Day.

This week's windstorm wasn't as powerful as the Inauguration Day storm that lashed Western Washington on Jan. 20, 1993.

Thursday and Friday: Winds reaching 69 mph at Sea-Tac International Airport at one point knocked out power to a million homes and businesses, toppled trees and killed at least four people.

Jan. 20, 1993: Wind gusts up to 88 mph ripped across the Puget Sound area, tearing off roofs, prompting the closure of both Lake Washington floating bridges, knocking out power to 700,000 customers in Western Washington, and killing six people.

Thanksgiving 1983: High winds gusting to 70 mph tore off roofs and cut power to 270,000 customers in Western Washington.

Oct. 12, 1962: The Columbus Day Storm — technically an extra-tropical cyclone — ravaged the Northwest with gusts to 90 mph in the Seattle area and 100 mph at Renton Airport. Damage throughout Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia approached $280 million. At least 46 deaths in Washington, Oregon and California were blamed on the storm.

Other whopper gusts were recorded at Destruction Island, off Jefferson County, 81 mph; Tatoosh Island, off Cape Flattery, 78 mph; Smith Island, off Whidbey Island, 76 mph; and Padilla Bay, Skagit County, 85 mph.

Mass and Buehner said the band of very heavy rain late Thursday afternoon also was remarkable. It was quick and fierce, causing unexpected flash flooding in the city. Nearly an inch of rain fell at Sand Point between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m.

"I've never seen urban flooding like that in Seattle," said Mass, who has lived here since 1981.

The storm moved in just as meteorologists had predicted.

The low-pressure center came out of the southwest and passed over the middle of Vancouver Island. But the long, "poisonous tail" of changing pressures that followed the center caused the high winds that lashed Western Washington.

The National Weather Service said a week ago that in the equatorial Pacific, there are intensifying early signs of El Niño, a weather phenomenon that occurs every three to seven years, and brings milder and drier weather to the Northwest in the winter. But the weather of the past six weeks has some scientists reluctant to predict the worst is over. And they're wondering if some other weather force is at work.

"It could be something we haven't picked up on is happening," Nate Mantua, a UW climate expert, told The Associated Press.

Mike Halpert, forecast chief of the NWS Climate Prediction Center in Maryland, said more significant signs of El Niño often don't occur until January, February or March. He's still convinced it's on the way.

Meanwhile, the month-and-a-half of dramatic weather in Western Washington — rain, snow, ice, wind — has kept meteorologists here jumping. They're happy for a break.

"I hope it's over for the entire winter, to be frank with you," Buehner said.

Warren King: 206-464-2247 or wking@seattletimes.com