National Weather Service Issues Weather Warning for Oregon and Washington

This is the advisory warnings for the Willamette Valley and SW Washington only. FMI check out this link. This is quite an impressive storm, being compared to the Columbus Day Storm of the early 1960's. One of the meteorologists out of Portland said, last night, that this storm had a mb rating of over 900. Right now it's fairly sunny and calm, although we keep getting hit with clouds rain and pretty strong wind gusts of around 40mph, the reason explained below. According to this Portland news site, the Corvallis Airport already logged gusts at 47 mph. Behind this storm is a cold front that will drop snow levels, bringing us a chance of snow over the weekend.

Be safe, ya'all.

Subject
URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
Type High Wind Alerts
Expires
1/4/2008 10:00:00 PM
Updated
1/4/2008 8:07:06 AM
First Received
1/4/2008 3:42:06 AM
Severity: Advisory

Counties
Lower Columbia (Oregon), Greater Portland Metro Area (Oregon), Central Willamette Valley (Oregon), South Willamette Valley (Oregon), Lower Columbia, I5 Corridor (Washington), Greater Vancouver Area (Washington)

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGENATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR803 AM PST FRI JAN 4 2008 ORZ005>008-WAZ022-039-050015-/O.CON.KPQR.WI.Y.0001.080104T1800Z-080105T0600Z/
LOWER COLUMBIA-GREATER PORTLAND METRO AREA-CENTRAL WILLAMETTE VALLEY-SOUTH WILLAMETTE VALLEY-I-5 CORRIDOR IN COWLITZ COUNTY-GREATER VANCOUVER AREA-INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...
ST. HELENS...CLATSKANIE...HILLSBORO...PORTLAND...OREGON CITY...GRESHAM...SALEM...MCMINNVILLE...DALLAS...EUGENE...CORVALLIS...ALBANY...
LONGVIEW...KELSO...CASTLE ROCK...VANCOUVER...BATTLE GROUND...WASHOUGAL
803 AM PST FRI JAN 4 2008...WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENINGFOR THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY AND THE LOWER I-5 CORRIDOR IN SOUTHWESTWASHINGTON...A WIND ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING.A VERY STRONG LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL APPROACH VANCOUVER ISLAND TODAY THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING AND IS EXPECTED TO BRING GUSTY SOUTH WINDS TO THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY AND THE LOWER I-5 CORRIDOR IN SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON. SOUTH WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WILL DEVELOP LATER THIS MORNING AND THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE SOUTHERN WILLAMETTE VALLEY AND SPREAD NORTH WITH GUSTS 40 TO 50 MPH. AFTERNOON AND EVENING WIND GUSTS COULD REACH 45 TO 55 MPH. THERE WILL BE SEVERAL PERIODS OF INCREASING THEN DECREASING WINDS AS FEATURES MOVING AROUND THE LOW PRESSURE CENTER ROTATE INLAND. WINDGUSTS WILL SUBSIDE SOME BY THIS EVENING. THESE WINDS COULD EASILY BE STRONG ENOUGH TO CAUSE SOME VULNERABLE TREES TO FALL IN THEWILLAMETTE VALLEY. A WIND ADVISORY IS ISSUED WHEN SUSTAINED WINDS ARE FORECAST TO BE 31 TO 39 MPH OR GUSTS WILL RANGE BETWEEN 45 AND 57 MPH. WINDS OF THESE MAGNITUDES MAY CAUSE MINOR PROPERTY DAMAGE WITHOUT EXTRAPRECAUTIONS. MOTORISTS IN HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES SHOULD USE CAUTION UNTIL THE WINDS SUBSIDE.