The weather along the Harbor coast was nasty over the weekend and continuing through Monday, a foreshadowing of things to come.

Winds kicked off a powerful Pacific frontal system early Monday, leading to high sea swells and activating several wind advisories. Rain accompanied gusts, with the heaviest amounts falling along the coast.

Quillayute in Clallam County, the weather service said, received 1.5 inches of rain in less than four hours Monday morning.

In the mountains, the snow elevation dropped to as low as 3,000 feet by Monday night. Heavy accumulations are possible in higher Cascade passes like Stevens Pass, with lesser amounts at Snoqualmie Pass. A winter storm warning was in effect for blowing snow piling up to 18 inches in the central and north Cascades through Tuesday morning.

The weather service advises delaying travel over the Cascades. If you must, “consider taking a winter storm kit along with you,” the weather service said, with items like tire chains, booster cables, a first aid kit, blankets “and anything else that would help you survive in case you become stranded.”

Over the lowlands, drippy clouds will linger into Tuesday, but the weather will be calmer compared with Monday’s daybreak.

High pressure will bring dry — but cooler — weather through Thursday. Morning lows will flirt with freezing, with daytime highs into the mid-50s.

Power outages

The Grays Harbor PUD was busy Monday morning restoring power to the coastal areas of the county.

Early Monday at 5 a.m. PUD crews were responding to a power outage on the North Beach impacting 4,400 customers from Moclips, north to Taholah.

Crews were working at 8 a.m. Monday on an outage in Ocean Shores impacting 2,400 customers, including but not limited to, Ocean Shores Boulevard, Point Brown Avene, East Ocean Shores Boulevard, East Chance a la Mer Avenue, Falls of Clyde Loop, Fairwood Drive, Greenview Avenue SW, Hassalo Court, Island Court SW, Marine View Drive, Mount Olympus Avenue, Weatherwax Loop, Texmar Avenue, Sunset Avenue, Storm King Avenue, Quinault Avenue and Sand Dune Avenue.

By 9:45 a.m. Monday crews had made a partial restoration of power to roughly half the 2,400 customers impacted by Mondays outage in Ocean Shores.

Crews had to rehang several strands of downed wire in Ocean Shores before a full restoration was made. By 11:30 a.m. Monday crews had restored power to all Ocean Shores customers, except those on Draconis Avenue SE. Those customers will remain out for several hours until crews’ complete repairs to downed wires serving their area.

Crews were also responding to an outage impacting 450 Westport customers, including but not limited to Johns River Road, state Route 105 and surrounding areas. By 8:30 a.m. PUD crews completed patrols in Westport, reclosed circuit breakers and restored power to all customers.

Also at 8 a.m. Monday, PUD crews had removed a downed tree limb from the power lines in Taholah and restored power to 4,400 customers on Grays Harbor’s North Beach.

At noon on Monday the county PUD reported power was out to 112 customers in the Strawberry Hill area of Elma, reporting by 3 p.m. Monday they had completed repairs following this morning’s wind event and restored power to customers in Elma.

The weather prompted the closure of the Taholah School District on Monday, and the Ocean Shores power outage forced the closure of Ocean Shores Elementary.

Sneaker waves

Over the weekend sneaker waves were hitting beaches up and down the Harbor coast at high tide at midday Saturday and Sunday, and continuing into Monday.

Waves were running up significantly farther on the beaches than normal, including over rocks and jetties. Sneaker waves can suddenly knock people off of their feet and quickly pull them into the frigid ocean which may lead to serious injury or drowning. West/northwesterly swells of 13 to 15 feet continued to pound the coastline Monday night.

King tides in Westport

And this is just a taste of what’s to come, as King tides will begin to make their presence known starting Nov. 15.

Nov. 15 — 11:33 a.m. — 11.0 feet

Nov. 16 — 12:16 p.m. — 11.1 feet

Nov. 17 — 1 p.m. — 10.9 feet

Dec. 14 — 11:09 a.m. — 11.0 feet

Dec. 15 — 1:56 a.m. — 11.0 feet

Dec. 16 — 12:43 p.m. — 10.8 feet

Jan. 12 — 10:55 a.m. — 10.5 feet

Jan. 13 — 11:46 a.m. — 10.6 feet

Jan. 14 — 12:34 p.m. — 10.4 feet