Thunderstorm Wind — Ferry, Washington

2018-06-25 · near Republic, Ferry, Washington

Event narrative

The county highway department reported travel restrictions along Highway 20 due to toppled trees and downed power lines west of Republic. A second report from a member of the public indicated about 100 trees toppled at and near this location from thunderstorm winds. Time of event estimated from radar.

Wider weather episode

During the late night and early morning hours of June 25th a strong cold front transited eastern Washington. The front exploited mid level instability and a moist air mass as it crossed the Cascades and broke out into eastern Washington. A line of thunderstorms developed between midnight and 4 AM PST and transited west to east through the Cascades and the mountains of northeastern Washington. Many of these storms were severe with damaging outflow winds blowing down trees, damaging structures and producing power outages in the Cascades and the Okanogan Highlands. Several fires were started by lightning strikes as well. The line weakened as it moved through north Idaho with no further damage reports, and passed into Montana by 7 AM PST, ending further thunderstorm activity.

Many people confirmed this event's damage with pictures of buildings and hundreds of trees lost in small, localized areas.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (48.6608, -118.8429)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 762943. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.