Thunderstorm Wind — Douglas, Washington

2013-08-10 · near Columbia River, Douglas, Washington

Event narrative

Numerous trees and power lines were downed from thunderstorm winds across southern Douglas County. Two large trees, estimated to be two feet in diameter, were downed at Desert Canyons Lodge. In Orondo, three large trees, estimated to be two feet in diameter and 120 feet tall, were knocked into high voltage power lines starting a small fire. At least 50 apple trees across multiple orchards were also damaged from the high winds. In Waterville, two downed trees landed on houses along Poplar Street and numerous large limbs were on the ground throughout town.

Wider weather episode

Moist, southerly flow ahead of an area of low pressure trickling northward along the Oregon Coast created a moist, unstable environment over Central Washington. Shortwaves ejecting from the shortwave trough supplied the necessary lift to initiate numerous strong thunderstorms across the East Slopes of the Cascades and portions of the Western Columbia Basin. These storms developed during the evening and overnight hours of August 9th and persisted well into the morning hours of August 10th. Storms dissipated around midday then afternoon heating and a second shortwave triggered another round of strong storms during the afternoon and evening hours of the 10th. The main threat with these storms was high rain intensity and flash flooding, however one line of storms also delivered damaging winds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (47.2467, -120.0353)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 471818. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.