High Wind in Whitman & Extreme Se Spokane, Washington

A major winter storm moving across the Northwest brought strong winds to far eastern Washington on the morning of December 15 following large accumulations of light powdery snow the evening before. Peak wind gusts of 63 mph from the southwest were measured at the Pullman-Moscow Airport from 430 to 530 AM PST. At the Nez Perce (Idaho) County Airport near Lewiston, a peak wind gust of 59 mph was measured at 832 AM PST. Spokane International Airport mesured a peak wind gust of 48 mph at 323 AM PST. This caused snow drifts to pile from 3 to 5 feet high along the Highway 195 corridor from Spokane south through the Palouse and into the Snake River Valley. Wind chill values dropped into the zero to ten below range. US Hwy 195 had to be closed from the Pullman bypass to the Idaho border due to hazardous conditions brought on by wind and snow drifts. The wind also caused several trees to fall into power lines, causing sporadic power outages across the Palouse. Winds knocked down portable toilet facilities near the Washington State University Student Learning Center construction site. Half of a modular home in transit south of Pullman was blown over and destroyed.