Strong winds and an early-morning king tide pose the biggest risks for La Conner in the next 24 hours — and neither depends on the Skagit River flooding to cause local damage.
A high wind warning is in effect for western Skagit County from 4 p.m. today through 6 a.m. tomorrow, with gusts up to 55 miles per hour. The strongest winds are expected between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m., followed by a king tide around 4 a.m. that could affect the Swinomish Channel and La Conner waterfront.
“The big change is that we are expecting pretty strong west-northwesterly winds coming over Whidbey Island,” said U.S. National Weather Service Meteorologist Kirby Cook. “Power outages are possible with that moving in tonight from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.”
Puget Sound Energy officials said more outages are likely as new storms arrive on already saturated and unstable ground from last week’s flooding:
“A high wind warning will be in effect starting at 4 p.m. through 6 a.m. tomorrow. Gusts of up to 55 mph may occur in western Skagit County,” PSE stated in a news release. “With the combination of rain, wind and saturated and unstable soil more outages are expected. We understand the stress outages can cause and are closely monitoring the situation.”
Heavy rain and strong winds are forecast over the next several days. Last week’s flooding set a record on the Skagit River of 37.4 feet at the Mount Vernon gauge, located just downstream from the Mount Vernon–Burlington bridge. The current forecast calls for the river there to reach 31.17 feet at 10 p.m. Tuesday and 32.61 feet at 10 a.m. Thursday. Major flood stage is 32 feet, so the river is expected to remain high through Thursday.
“The current forecast doesn’t have Mount Vernon dropping below minor flood stage until probably Saturday,” Cook said. “The primary impacts for that is south and east of La Conner.”
Officials say they are hopeful the Skagit River will remain within its banks and that the levee system will continue to protect La Conner. Residents are urged to stay prepared, keep a GO bag ready and plan evacuation routes in case of a levee breach. In that event, the La Conner Fire Department will issue an alert with a long blast on fire engine air horns.
