Seattle weather: Gusty wind and heavy rain approaching

Friday winds will be gusty

Winds will be as high as 50 mph beginning Friday afternoon through Saturday morning.

SEATTLE - An atmospheric river will send heavy rain and breezy conditions to parts of western Washington on Friday and through the weekend.

Widespread rain showers will continue through Friday with breezy wind developing at times.

A Wind Advisory in in effect Friday afternoon through early Saturday morning for the northern Washington Coast, the Admiralty Inlet, San Juan and Island counties and the western parts of Snohomish, Skagit and Whatcom counties.

Winds could gust 35 to 45 mph with isolated gusts as strong as 50 mph. For most of the central and south Puget Sound areas, wind gusts will be in the 20 to 30 mph range.

An atmospheric river will send persistent moderate to heavy rainfall this weekend, especially on the northern Washington Coast, the Olympic Peninsula, the north Puget Sound area and the northern Washington Cascades. No rivers are currently forecast to reach flood stage, but we will keep an eye on them.

Rain totals over the Olympic Peninsula and northern Cascades will be impressive, with 6 to 8 inches expected. Areas like Bellingham could see 2 to 4 inches. Meanwhile, Seattle should benefit from the rain shadow of the Olympics. Around a half inch of rain is expected around the greater Seattle area through Sunday.