A ‘bomb cyclone’ of rain, wind headed to Seattle area

An especially strong jet stream over the Pacific Ocean is spinning off a series of five or six weather systems, including a massive “bomb cyclone” that’s expected to arrive to the Seattle area Friday. With it, the system is expected to bring heavy rain and gusty 40 mph winds, according to local weather experts.

“What is remarkable is how big it is in scale, how deep the center is and the speed with which it goes from an open wave to a super intense low pressure system,” said Joe Boomgard-Zagrodnik, an agricultural meteorologist for Washington State University. “Meaning it will seem to explode out of nowhere.”

It won’t be particularly unusual or atypical for our region at this time of the year, but it’s part of a larger scale weather pattern that signifies the real start of the rainy season.

While the storm that’s expected to hit Monday could be “more of a troublemaker,” said Boomgard-Zagrodnik, for many residents of the Puget Sound region, the coming week’s weather could feel simply like “continuous fall rain,” rather than separate events.