Record wind rakes Spokane area

SPOKANE — Winds gusting to a record 77 mph raked large areas of Eastern Washington, blowing down trees, causing power outages and fanning numerous fires, including one in which a teenager died.

A pair of "gust fronts" Tuesday left power outages and lights out all over the Spokane Valley east of the city, Spokane County sheriff's Deputy Dave Reagan said. "Trees have been knocked down and small fires have erupted in many places."

Northwest of the city, a teenager died in a fire that was reported about 10:30 p.m. at a home in the Suncrest area of southern Stevens County.

"The wind was blowing like mad," said Tom Peterson, who lives near the charred home. "It looks like the whole neighborhood was out here doing something."

Cause of the fire remained under investigation, said Keith Reilly, chief of Stevens County Fire District 1.

Numerous brush fires were caused by lightning but no major property damage from the flames was reported. The high winds also downed power lines, blew trees into houses and parked cars and tore the roofs off a Spokane Valley school gymnasium and buildings in Airway Heights.

At one point Tuesday night about 28,000 of Avista's customers across Eastern Washington and northern Idaho were without electricity, utility spokeswoman Jessie Wuerst said.

Crews had restored power to all but about 5,800 homes by 9 a.m. today, most of those in the Spokane Valley, Wuerst said. About 1,000 customers were without power on Spokane's South Hill and in the Rockford, Pullman and Post Falls, Idaho, areas, she said.

A 77 mph gust at Spokane International Airport, the city's current official wind site, broke the city's all-time wind record, said Todd Lericos, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Records for various sites in Spokane date from the 1880s, and the previous record was 67 mph on Jan. 9, 1972.

The first set of wind blasts hit the city at 6:24 p.m. with sustained winds of 62 mph and the second began at 8:24 p.m. The highest gust recorded from the second storm was 61 mph at Escure, south of Spokane.

The first gust front kicked up so much dust and dirt that the normally bright skies at 7 p.m. turned nearly as dark as at night and motorists turned on their lights.

Two commercial flights at the airport were held on the ground and two arriving planes were directed to remain in holding patterns until the severe weather cleared, airport spokesman Todd Woodard said.

Overall, airport operations were delayed for about 15 minutes and commercial traffic was back to normal by 6:30 p.m., Woodard said.

Lericos said the wind blasts originated in southeastern Washington when two thunderstorms complexes moved off the Blue Mountains and into the rolling wheatlands of the Palouse, then collapsed, producing a long line of high winds that extended down to the surface from 10,000 feet as then moved toward Spokane.

"I don't think too many counties in Eastern Washington escaped" the wind, he said, adding Whitman, Adams, Lincoln and parts of Stevens and Pend Oreille counties were affected.