Damaging windstorm predicted to hit Spokane Region early Wednesday; utilities and city offer tips to prepare and stay safe

Strong winds were projected to hit the Spokane region early Wednesday morning with predicted speeds that could match the devastating windstorm of 2015, according to the National Weather Service.

Forecasters said Tuesday they had high confidence winds could reach between 50 and 60 mph in Spokane.

While the gusts will be severe, National Weather Service Spokane meteorologist Daniel Butler also said there was a lesser chance, about 10%, that a thunderstorm accompanying the cold front could push the wind speeds to 60 mph and above in the region.

Models , as of Tuesday, show winds peaking between 4 and 5 a.m., Butler said.

Spokespersons for the Spokane area’s two largest utilities said Tuesday that it’s not a question of if the storm will cause outages, only a matter of how widespread those outages could become.

Here are a few tips from Avista and the city of Spokane:

• Find your flashlights and ensure they have fresh batteries.
• Fully charge smart phones and other important devices.
• Call 311 to report trees blocking roads.
• Call Avista at (800) 277-9187 to report trees and branches entangled in power lines.
• Call 911 if a downed power line poses an emergency.
• Do not approach downed power lines.
• Treat intersections that do not have functioning traffic lights as four-way stops.
• Avista maintains a power outage map at myAvista.com/outage.
• Consider sleeping on lower floors of homes if near tall trees.

Avista Utilities spokesman David Vowels said utility crews have vehicles fueled and are staging to respond.

“Mother Nature is unpredictable, especially living in the Pacific Northwest,” Vowels said. “This appears to be a significant wind event that is expected. Our Avista crews are ready and standing by to support the impacted areas.”

“Crews will work around the clock until every last customer’s power is restored,” he said.

Avista has a total of about 400,000 electricity customers, with most of those in and around the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene Area.

Inland Power and Light Company has about 40,000 electricity customers, of whom about 70% live in Spokane and surrounding areas, said spokesman Andy Barth.

In case of a power outage, Avista suggests taking the following steps:

• Turn off appliances that were on before power went out.
• Unplug electronic equipment.
• Leave a light or radio on as an alert when power is restored.
• Turn on the front porch light to assist power crews.
• Do not wire a generator into a home’s electrical system.
• If using a generator, set up outside to prevent possible carbon monoxide poisoning and only use the generator to run specific appliances.

Like Vowels, Barth recommended that local residents prepare for the worst.

“When it comes to our members and the general public, it’s important to remember that 70 mph gusts have a high potential of creating widespread damage,” he said. “It’s very important to know that while crews are at the ready, they cannot make any repairs while conditions are still unsafe.”

The forecast calls for winds to continue and the potential thunderstorm.

“All of those things, our guys can’t work in,” Barth said. “As soon as it is safe, we will have crews respond.”

Barth asked that any customers who lose power not rush to judgment.

“We are asking for patience and understanding. If crews are not outside your residence, that doesn’t mean they are not working,” Barth said. “And, if you don’t see any damage, that doesn’t mean damage hasn’t occurred upstream.”

Past blowdowns

Barth said the wind event follows weeks of wet conditions that have left area soils saturated.

That’s exactly the conditions from Jan. 13, 2021, when a storm hit the region and knocked out power to about 100,000 customers combined at both utilities.

During the 2021 event, “we had about 70,000 customers without power,” Vowels said. “It was pretty significant. That was a historic event. But it wasn’t bad as 2015.”

Forecasters warned of a windstorm that hit on Nov. 17, 2015, just as area students were getting out of school. The winds gusted up to 71 mph and toppled more than 1,900 trees inside Spokane city limits.

The storm knocked out power for 238,000 homes and businesses, including 180,000, or half, of all Avista customers.

The hurricane-force wind gusts caused unprecedented damage to Avista’s electric infrastructure.

For 83% of the customers who lost power, electricity was not restored for at least five days.

Spokane Public Schools didn’t reopen for two weeks.

“We had mutual aid crews come to help from as far away as Canada and Northern California,” Vowels said. “We created an additional new dispatch center to manage coordinating all the additional crews in the field. Crews worked around the clock for 10 days.”

However, the one major difference between the devastating storm in 2015 and the current forecast is that the storm on Wednesday is not expected to last as long, said Butler, the meteorologist.

Despite that, he suggested that anyone who lives near tall trees should consider sleeping on lower floors of their homes Tuesday night. He also recommended that people take care to keep phones charged and be ready to use back up chargers if they are available.

Anyone driving a semitruck or other high-profile vehicle should consider staying off roads overnight, Butler said. And everyone should make sure to stay away from downed power lines and report them as soon as possible.

Both Barth and Vowels reminded residents to consider any downed powerline as energized.

Chandra Fox, deputy director of Spokane County Emergency Management, said in a news release that local officials are preparing to respond.

“With the timing of the event, (Wednesday’s) morning commute could be challenging and potentially dangerous,” Fox wrote. “We would encourage you to consider late starts and/or work-from-home options for your personnel, as appropriate.”

Will the schools be closed?

Bracing for the possible extreme weather, school districts around the region were preparing their inclement weather protocols on Tuesday, discussing whether to close schools.

Most will decide Wednesday morning if closures or delays are in order, spurred mostly by power outages at school or fallen trees and branches in roads that may make transportation unsafe.

Spokane Public Schools officials will let families know by 6 a.m. if school is delayed or canceled. Messages sent to caregivers and staff indicated the district “may” delay the start of school by two hours.

“If conditions deteriorate after the school day begins, we will safely hold students at school and ask caregivers to pick them up,” the message reads.

If any district cancels school, students and staff will have to attend school on a weather makeup day, typically tacked on to the end of the school year.

Cheney Public Schools officials will decide about a closure or delay by 5:30 a.m., spokesperson Jenna Larson said.

Asked about power outages prompting closures, Larson said there is no “hard and fast” procedure. Different power suppliers service different schools in the district, Larson said, meaning only some schools may lose power.

Lost power doesn’t promote learning, Larson said, and the district’s goal is to keep its students safe and learning.

Central Valley School District will post its alert if school is closed or delayed on their website, at cvsd.org/apps/pages/delays. District spokesperson Marla Nunberg said they typically aim to get alerts out by 5:15 a.m., but given the uncertainty of wind and power, the district may wait a little longer.

In the 2015 windstorm, Central Valley closed some schools without power, but not others. Nunberg said the district may do that again if the circumstances call for it.

Mead School District will have an alert out by 6 a.m., according to its website, at mead354.org.