Strong Wind Leaves Signs Of Fall Gusts Reaching Nearly 50 Mph Topple Trees, Power Lines
It took a tree falling onto David Pitts’ Spokane home for him to realize that a wind storm ripped through the area on Tuesday.
Gusts that reached nearly 50 mph toppled trees and downed power lines, leaving several hundred homes and businesses without electricity.
“It sounded like a big thud, like lightning on your house,” said Pitts, who lives at 2319 W. Mallon. “The next thing I know, the tree is down.
“I didn’t even know it was a windy day out.”
The National Weather Service issued a special advisory as the afternoon storm moved across the region. The advisory was canceled by evening.
In Spokane, the worst problems were reported in the northwest and northeast parts of the city. Power lines fell at Lincoln and Maxwell, Market and Illinois and Rowan and Addison.
Luckily for Pitts, his power lines were in back of his house and unharmed.
He moved to the triplex a little more than a month ago to fix up the place. He knew he had some work to do on the roof. The storm just made that more certain.
The strong winds also knocked a tree into Nova Britt’s back yard at Cook and Queen.
“It cut through the wood fence and landed on the kids’ swing set,” she said.
The blustery weather Tuesday followed a strong cold front and thunderstorms that crossed the region just after midnight. A total of 0.40 inches of rain fell after midnight Tuesday.
Hail in Deer Park measured a quarterinch in diameter.
Thunderstorms are unusual for Spokane in October. On the average, Spokane gets one thunderstorm in October every three years.
The weather service has recorded four thunderstorms in the past six days, said meteorologist Deborah Danielson.
The stormy weather the past eight days is being blamed on a persistent upper level low pressure area in the Gulf of Alaska.
“It’s almost like a winter pattern,” Danielson said.
The forecast calls for partly cloudy weather today with the chance of more rain later in the week.
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