The National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Watch for Thursday afternoon through Friday morning in cities around the area.

The winds are expected to gradually ease tonight, but another storm Thursday evening could produce south winds of 30-45 mph, with gusts up to 75 mph.

The National Weather Service warns: “Winds this strong can topple trees… especially given the saturated soils from recent rainfall… power outages are likely to occur and may be widespread.”

The potentially impacted areas include Enumclaw, North Bend, Buckley, Seattle, Federal Way and Kent, among others. The cities of Covington, Maple Valley and Black Diamond were not listed as of the Weather Service’s 10:10 a.m. update (Thursday).