Atmospheric river storm brings river, wind and sparse power outages to Eastern Washington, flood and mudslide warnings for west side of state

By Mathew Callaghan

The Spokesman-Review

Monday night’s first round of a powerful atmospheric river brought rain, lashing wind and power outages to hundreds of homes in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Valerie Thaler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said wind speeds reached a peak of 62 mph Monday at the Spokane International Airport around 10:30 p.m. The next-highest recorded wind speed was at Felts Field in Spokane Valley, where winds reached 51 mph.

She said most other wind speeds in the area ranged between 30 and 45 mph. Gusts died down and slipped below 40 mph around 2 a.m.

This specific atmospheric river, which started in the Philippines, is a slow-moving force that’s pummeling the Pacific Northwest not only with wind, but also with water.

Thaler said she hadn’t heard of any reports of flooding in the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Metro area. The Spokane Airport received only 0.21 inches of rain on Monday night, Thaler said.

As of 3:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Avista’s interactive power outages map reported there were nine active outages affecting 26 customers. David Vowels, the senior communications manager at Avista, said 1,574 customers were without power by around midnight Monday. Most of these outages were concentrated in the Post Falls and St. Maries areas.

With more than 400,000 customers across the Northwest, Vowels said , the outages Monday night were far from significant. Inland Power’s outage map reported there were no active outages as of 3:45 p.m. Around midnight on Monday, Inland Power reported there were 106 customers without power, most of which were in the Deer Park, Mt. Spokane and North Spokane area.

Looking towards the future, Thaler said residents of the region can expect wind speeds of up to 45 mph to sustain Tuesday night and into Wednesday afternoon. These winds, though less intense than Monday night’s, aren’t expected to subside until early Thursday morning.

Along with the wind and rain, the storm has also brought unseasonably warm temperatures. Thaler said Wednesday’s high is supposed to reach 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 5 degrees short of the Dec. 10 highest -recorded temperature.

Thaler said travelers heading toward the West Side or over the mountains into Montana should exercise caution. The Cascade Foothills to Puget Sound region can expect flooding and even landslides across certain stretches. Thaler said there’s been a handful of water-over-roadway warnings and reports of mudslides in proximity to Snoqualmie Pass.

Most, if not all, of these warnings shouldn’t be felt anywhere east of Ellensburg.

Mathew Callaghan is a graduate of The Spokesman-Review’s Teen Journalism Institute. He can be reached at (509) 459-5437 or by email at mathewc@spokesman.com.