High Wind — Lower Garfield & Asotin, Washington

2010-05-03 · Lower Garfield & Asotin, Washington

Wider weather episode

A tight pressure gradient and a strong jet stream moved over the area behind a cold front resulting in a windstorm over Central and Eastern Washington. This resulted in extensive damage, as well as a dust storm from the Moses Lake area eastward into the Upper Columbia Basin. Numerous downed trees and power outages were reported, with some trees falling on homes. The Clarkston and Lewiston areas were hit especially hard with wind gusts of 60-65 miles per hour resulting in 9,000 customers without power. In Davenport, a tree fell and flattened the Old Schoolhouse and damaged a pickup. The winds also blew shingles off some homes in the Davenport, Spokane, and Pullman areas. On Highway 195 near Rosalia, winds contributed to a fatal motorcycle accident resulting in one indirect fatality. In Wenatchee, strong wind gusts blew shingles off a home and damaged a restaurant sign. On Interstate 90, exit signs near milepost 151 and milepost 221 were blown over. Meanwhile, the high winds kicked up a significant amount of blowing dust leading to several road closures in the Moses Lake area, with visibility also reduced to less than a quarter mile in the Upper Columbia Basin in Ritzville. Five miles west of Quincy, Highway 281 was closed in both directions due to the dust. In Othello, Highway 17 was closed in both directions from milepost 34 to milepost 50. Five miles east of Moses Lake, visibility near zero was reported on Wheeler Road. Peak wind gusts in miles per hour from this event include 62 Palouse, 60 Uniontown, 60 six miles west of Clarkston at Silcott Island, 59 Spokane International Airport, 59 Moses Lake, 59 Reardan, 59 near Vantage, and 58 in Mansfield. Sustained winds near 40 miles per hour were also measured in Spangle, 10 miles west of Coulee Dam, 12 miles west of Moses Lake, Pullman, and Fairchild Air Force Base.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 228717. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.