Storm good for skiers, bad for electric lines

LOON LAKE – Wet snow snapped trees and took down power lines Wednesday morning, leaving more than 7,300 Avista Utilities customers without power in the Davenport, Loon Lake and Colville areas.

Spokane received heavy rain but just a few miles north the storm dumped several inches of heavy snow.

By 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, 6,040 customers in the Colville area were without service, Avista corporate spokeswoman Debbie Simock said. Some 1,117 customers in Davenport and 216 residents of Loon Lake and Deer Park didn’t have electricity.

“Throughout the day we restored service and others lost it from falling limbs,” Simock said.

By 3:30 p.m., a total of 5,669 customers remained without power.

“These numbers may increase as people get home from work,” Simock said. “Our crews will work throughout the evening and night. But it’s anticipated that it will be Thursday before all the customers are restored.”

About 300 customers of Inland Power & Light Co. were also without power in the Deer Park and Loon Lake areas and the company did not have an estimated time when power would be restored.

But the snow wasn’t bad news for everybody.

Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park opened Wednesday, and 49 Degrees North Mountain Resort plans to open Friday.

In North Idaho, warmer temperatures and rain pushed the snow levels up above 3,000 feet. But enough snow fell at higher elevations that officials at Schweitzer Mountain ski resort have decided to open on Saturday.

“We’re confident something will be open. We’re just not sure what,” Lisa Gerber, resort publicist, said Wednesday.

Gerber said Schweitzer will wait until Friday before posting prices and runs. Lift prices will be reduced, she said, and skiable terrain is also likely to be limited. Schweitzer was hit with 17 inches from a surprise snowfall beginning about 10 p.m. Tuesday, Gerber said.

Silver Mountain and Lookout Pass are already open.

Skiers’ fortunes will depend on how much snow will survive a wet, warm trend on Thursday and Friday. According to the National Weather Service, snow levels will be up to 7,000 feet.

Warm southwest winds and rain are in the forecast until Friday night, said meteorologist Robin Fox of the National Weather Service.

The snow can’t melt fast enough for Bob and Shawna Berry, who help manage the Shore Acres Resort on the west side of Loon Lake. They spent Wednesday morning clearing downed trees from their road.

“It sounds like a gunshot when those things go,” Bob Berry said.

Their electricity flickered and one power line actually set a nearby tree on fire.

Nearby, 31-year-old Chasen Bemis was shoveling his driveway. The snow snapped two aspen trees in his front yard but he had power.

“Usually when power goes out, we are the first ones,” Bemis said. “When the power goes out here and there is no TV, it’s pretty tough.”

Barbara “Bobbie” Lee Smith, of Deer Lake, wasn’t so lucky. But she’s learned over two decades of living in the area to cope without electricity.

“Even in a good winter, we lose power three or four times. It’s the trees up on top of the mountain” that cause the outages, she said. “But don’t take them away.”

Avista crews were preparing a Sno-Cat to crawl up the mountain above Smith’s home to fix the downed lines.

She appreciates their work.

“I tell you, Avista is wonderful,” said Smith, who often offers crews sandwiches and hot cocoa. “They always check on us and let us know” when power will be restored.

In 2002, a tree came down and took out a portion of Smith’s house. Limbs came in her kitchen window.

Asked if she’s worried about bigger trees doing the same, she replied: “If I have time, I’ll bend over and kiss my big butt goodbye. What a way to go in God’s country.”