High winds prompt advisory

Gusty winds buffeted the Inland Northwest on Monday, leaving some residents without power, and causing minor damage throughout the region.

The strongest winds were recorded at higher elevations, including a 98 mph peak wind at Rattlesnake Mountain west of the Tri-Cities, a 119 mph peak wind at Camp Muir at the 10,100-foot level of Mount Rainier and a gust of 49 mph at Mullan Pass in North Idaho.

Avista Utilities reported that 1,140 customers lost electrical power as a result of the storm.

The outages affected customers throughout the region, including 683 in Grangeville and 345 in Colville. Problems also were reported in Deer Park, Spokane and Davenport.

Winds at Spokane International Airport peaked at 45 mph about 2 p.m. Monday, and a second bout of wind was predicted later in the evening.

Rainfall at the airport was measured at 0.2 inches by Monday evening.

Forecaster Rocco Pelatti said that the potential for more serious winds Monday was avoided when a Pacific low pressure system passed farther north of the region than predicted Sunday.

Even so, a hazardous weather outlook and wind advisory were posted for the Inland Northwest on Monday.

The storm also drew a pulse of mild air northward over the weekend, allowing temperatures in Northport to hit a record high of 59 degrees on Saturday, which broke a previous record for the day of 58 degrees, set in 1990.

Records have been kept in Northport since 1899.

Snow was reported in the mountains of Washington and Idaho, including several inches at 49 Degrees North ski area near Chewelah and Schweitzer Mountain Resort near Sandpoint.

In Western Washington, winds gusting to more than 70 mph blew trees and branches onto power lines and cut electricity to nearly 85,000 homes and businesses on Monday.

The number of power failures grew as winds rose throughout the west part of the state, starting well before daybreak.

The region’s largest utility, Puget Sound Energy, had roughly 37,000 customers in the dark in nine counties, with Whatcom and Thurston hit the hardest, spokeswoman Christina Mills said.

More than 15,000 customers were without electricity in the Grays Harbor County Public Utility District, spokeswoman Liz Anderson reported.

“We don’t have an estimate on restoration time,” Anderson said, “but it’s going to take hours, not days, and should be well into the evening for some customers.”

At least 9,300 Cowlitz County PUD customers were in the dark, along with 8,000 in the Clallam County PUD, utility officials said.

Seattle City Light reported nearly 3,900 customers without power in the Burien area because of a failure in a feeder line and more than 100 within Seattle for other reasons.

Windy weather was blamed for outages that hit about 2,000 homes and businesses north of Vancouver, Wash., mostly in and around Yacolt, Amboy and Ridgefield, said Mick Shutt, a spokesman for the Clark County Public Utility District.

Wind gusts reported by the National Weather Service by noon included 71 mph at Hoquiam, 68 mph in Bellingham, 62 at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station near Oak Harbor, 56 at Friday Harbor, 55 at Quillayute on the Olympic Peninsula, 53 at McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, 48 at La Center, 46 in Kelso, 45 at Burlington, and 41 at Olympia and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Snoqualmie Pass east of Seattle had wet snow and slush on a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 90 from the summit to Easton, transportation officials said.

Additional snow removal crews were summoned to keep the road clear for holiday traffic.

The weather service was predicting more than 6 inches of snow over the pass by Monday night.