High Winds Drop Trees, Power Lines N. Idaho Ski Slopes Close With Gusts Of 50 Mph
Wind gusts of around 50 mph blew down power lines, uprooted trees and caused hundreds of people to see their lights flicker and go out Sunday in Spokane and the surrounding area.
The winds hit North Idaho as well, knocking out power to around 2,000 homes in Coeur d’Alene, Spirit Lake, Hayden Lake and Dalton Gardens.
About 100 homes in Kellogg and Wallace were in the dark as well.
The high winds started their havoc in Spokane around 10:30 a.m. when a power pole blew over and left about 800 homes on the South Hill without juice.
Most of those homes had power restored within 30 minutes but, by midafternoon, two dozen homes were still without power. Countywide, the tally was about 200 to 300 homes without power for much of the day, said Jennifer Mitchell, Avista spokeswoman.
About 100 homes in the Kellogg-Wallace area were expected to be without power until this morning. There were scattered outages in Moscow and Pullman. In Oakesdale, about 500 homes were expected to be without power until midnight Sunday.
Power lines weren’t the only thing knocked down by the winds.
“I was coming home and thinking `Isn’t it nice, all this wind and no trees coming down,”’ said Pat Heller, who lives on South Manito Boulevard.
“Then I saw it. Is that in our yard? Across our garage?” she said.
A 50-foot-tall pine tree from the Heller’s back yard had snapped and fallen on the garage.
“At first I thought it was just a branch hitting the metal awning over the window,” said Arnold Heller. “Then ka-whoom! It hit.”
No one was injured, but the tree landed on the couple’s garage, breaking its rafters, busting several windows and crushing some possessions they had in storage.
Skiers were affected, too. Reports of high winds closed Silver Mountain Ski Resort before it even opened for the day. Schweitzer Mountain Resort closed around 1 p.m. Sunday after reporting 60 mph gusts on top of the mountain, said Deanna Harris, one of the resort’s directors.
Such high winds typically hit the mountain once a season, Harris said.
A very strong jet stream and cold front driving across the Pacific Northwest brought the winds.
The storm was similar in nature to the wind storm of Feb. 2, 1999, which downed powerlines and trees in the area, according to the National Weather Service.
Winds were supposed to decrease to 10 mph to 15 mph after midnight and then drop to around 5 mph to 15 mph today, according to the weather service.
This sidebar appeared with the story: FORECAST Winds were supposed to decrease to 10 mph to 15 mph after midnight and then drop to around 5 mph to 15 mph today, according to the weather service.
Staff writer Heather Lalley contributed to this report.