Thunderstorm Wind in Grant County, Washington

Shop doors blown off and power poles downed across Wheeler Road.

A negatively tilted shortwave trough of lower pressure interacted with some surface based instability of near 1,000 J/KG in northern Oregon to spawn a squall line that traversed northward across eastern Washington. Strong winds mixed down to the surface along the squall line to created widespread damaging wind gusts. The squall line could be classified as a Haboob as the strongest winds occurred out ahead of the thunderstorms that kicked up a massive dust cloud. The Haboob hit the Moses Lake area and Upper Columbia Basin the hardest with widespread wind damage reported. The dust cloud resulted in a rapid reduction in visibility to near zero in places. Impacts from the Haboob were felt as far north as Coulee City eastward into Spokane and into Deer Park. Strong damaging winds and reduced visibility due to dust were reported across these areas as well.