Offshore bomb cyclone brings strong winds to portions of Oregon and Washington coastline

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A strong Pacific storm, brewing over 700 miles offshore, could bring another round of powerful winds to portions of the Oregon and Washington coastline Monday night.

This storm is classified as a "bomb cyclone," a rapidly intensifying storm with a pressure drop of at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.

This bomb cyclone follows the historic storm that developed in the Pacific on Nov. 19 of this year. While significant, it won't be as intense as the November storm, which reached a central pressure of 942 millibars at its peak. This storm is expected to bottom out at 963-969 millibars by late Monday evening.

High-resolution models bring southerly wind gusts up to 35 to 45 mph for some locations along the Oregon coastline by 9 p.m. Monday. Winds gusts from the east might ramp up to 50 to 60 mph for some isolated coastal locations and in the foothills of the Washington Cascades this evening.

Since the bomb cyclone will be so far offshore, there are few impacts expected in the Portland metro area. Winds will be breezy through the evening from the east with gusts up to 30 mph, then turn southerly overnight. Few to no power outages are expected.

Instead, the breezy in Portland will be paired with widespread rain arriving this evening. Expect soggy conditions overnight with scattered showers continuing into Christmas Eve day.

Stay up to date with the latest forecast with the KOIN 6 Weather Team.