Strong winds broke out in parts of the Pacific Northwest Tuesday, prompting high wind warnings for parts of western Washington and northwest Oregon and blowing trees onto houses in the Seattle-Tacoma area. At least 75,000 customers have lost electricity as a result of the strong winds.

The winds are the result of the same winterlike air mass that has plunged all the way south to the Gulf Coast and eastward into the Ohio Valley behind a powerful cold front. A powerhouse high-pressure zone over the northern U.S. is also trying to literally push this frigid but shallow air through gaps in the Rocky Mountains and from there into the Northwest, where it faces a second obstacle in the form of the Cascade Range.

A schematic map showing how high pressure over western Canada forces cold air through gaps in the mountains, including the Columbia River Gorge along the Washington-Oregon border.

The high, whose central pressure was 1051 millibars (31.03 inches of mercury) over Canada's Northwest Territories Tuesday afternoon, has proven plenty strong enough to do just that. Winds began howling before sunrise Tuesday in the Columbia River Gorge just east of Portland, Oregon -- the most prominent gap in the Cascades, cutting a 4,000-foot-deep valley through the mountains.

Winds gusted as high as 66 mph at Crown Point, Oregon, just after 4 a.m. Tuesday according to a Weather Underground personal weather station. More than nine hours later that location was still reporting occasional gusts of 60 to 64 mph from the east to northeast through the Gorge.

Farther west, sustained winds of 30 to 35 mph with gusts as high as 48 mph buffeted Portland International Airport, on the banks of the Columbia River, for much of the day Tuesday. Despite the rough winds, most afternoon flight arrivals to and departures from the airport were on schedule, according to the airport's website.

KGW-TV said some 50,000 customers had lost power by 2 p.m. PST Tuesday in the Portland-Vancouver area.

The outages knocked out traffic lights in downtown Vancouver, Washington:

Farther north, those cold easterly winds also cut through some of the passes through the Cascades in Washington, leading to winds that downed trees along the Route 410 corridor east of Tacoma, Washington, on Tuesday. Some fell on houses, as shown here:

KING-TV said some 25,000 customers lost power in western Washington Tuesday due to the winds. A peak gust of 59 mph was clocked in Enumclaw, where the White River exits the mountains into the Puget Sound lowlands.

Just The Beginning: Complex Northwest Storm

Pacific Northwest Alerts

High wind warnings are in effect for the Portland metropolitan area and are set to continue until Wednesday afternoon. Gusts could reach 75 to 85 mph in western portions of the Columbia River Gorge, east of Portland. Gusts over 60 mph are possible in parts of the Portland area, especially the eastern suburbs closer to the gorge.

High wind warnings were issued for the Cascade foothills east of Seattle and Tacoma Tuesday.

The strong gap winds are expected to subside Wednesday -- but that won't be the end of the inclement weather.

Thursday Forecast

Friday Forecast

A storm system will move in from the Pacific by Wednesday night. It will bring mild, moist Pacific air in over the shallow, cold air mass near the ground. This could result in an unusually early spell of winterlike weather for the region.

This will be a tough call for Portland and the northern Willamette Valley. The outcome will hinge on how cold it is when precipitation begins Wednesday night. It could be cold enough for several hours of freezing rain and/or sleet -- enough to cause treacherous road conditions for Thursday morning's rush, and in a worst-case scenario, more power outages.

However, it is also possible that the freezing rain will be confined more toward the Columbia Gorge, and that it will be mostly a cold rain for the Portland metro. Stay abreast of the forecast if you have travel plans or live in this area.

Farther east, freezing rain and snow are likely in the Columbia Gorge, affecting travel on Interstate 84. Snow will also affect the Cascades and areas immediately to the east in southern Washington and central and eastern Oregon, eventually spreading east into the Northern Rockies by the end of the week.

Snowfall Forecast

Snowfall amounts will not be extraordinary by winter standards, but given the cold weather preceding the storm and the potential for some sleet or freezing rain mixing in, untreated pavement could become quite slick.

This is also bit early for snow -- the average first measurable snow in Pendleton, Oregon, and Yakima, Washington, comes in the final week of November. In Bend, Oregon, the average date of the first measurable snow is Nov. 17.

At this time we expect this late-week storm and its precipitation to stay just south of the Seattle area as well as Snoqualmie Pass on Interstate 90.

Stay with The Weather Channel and weather.com for the latest on the mess in the Pacific Northwest.

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