Really good AFD from Seattle. Good details. Wind: A compact low pressure system developing along the northern California coast this evening will lift northward toward the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday. Models continue to struggle with the path and subsequent strength of the surface low as it approaches Western Washington midday Wednesday. Morning runs of the HREF and REFS continued to show mean gusts of 45-50 mph through Puget Sound as well as coastal areas by early to mid afternoon Wednesday with 90th percentile data showing gusts in the realm of 60 mph As with many high wind producing storm systems (i.e. last week), deference is also given to the rate of change of surface pressure and topographically driven contributions As of this morning, isallobaric plots from both the GFS and NAM were still showing 8 to 12 millibars of pressure rise in just 3 hours through a swath of the coast and Puget Sound on Wednesday afternoon. Funneling that through a north/south oriented channel like Puget Sound can act to enhance the wind...especially when 850 millibar winds are roughly from the same direction at 60+ knots. Given the ongoing uncertainty, a high wind watch has been issued for much of the lowlands and will let following shifts decide on warnings versus advisories. 27 In addition to the wind, there will also be some rain with thissystem, but amounts aren't looking particularly impressive. Afew tenths of an inch up to a quarter inch throughout PugetSound and around an inch in the north Cascades and portions ofthe Olympics. In the context of the last few weeks, certainlynot impactful rain amounts. Additional, light rain amounts areexpected Thursday, with calmer weather expected over theweekend.

Why did NWS post a HWW? This is a nothing burger outside of southern Oregon and California.

Definitely. 55-70mph

New years coming in nice

There might be a specific angle... but the real difference is whether the low stays offshore or is moving inland through northern WA. When its bombing out and moving straight inland to our north then we can get blasted by south wind. But when the low stays offshore as it moves north then its usually much less windy here than near the Sound.