The Great Wind Storm - Spokane, WA - 09/07/2020

[oosik]

Predictions were for winds up to 50 to 60 mph this last Monday - 09/07/2020. I saw winds here - 25 miles SW of Spokane - peaking at 18 mph. Hardly enough to blow the dust & ash out of the pine trees.

However - around 1pm on Monday my power went out. It came back on at 11:40am today. Almost a 48 hour outage. Somewhere - in this locality - somebody had to see higher winds. 48 hours is the longest outage in the 38+ years I've been out here.

What did others in this area experience??

 

[grsthegreat]

We had gusts up to 60+ miles per hour over a period of 4 hours. Power out for 14 hours. 2 big fires started near us fanned by wind. I guess the wind never made it to your place....your lucky. The area that i spent months cleaning in my forest this spring has a bunch of snapped off and uprooted trees down now. Im royally pissed off.

 

[oosik]

Sorry to hear about your cleaned area being a mess now. No damage to your building - that's a plus. Around here about 95% of the wind comes out of the SW. Anything coming out of the NE is always cold. I have a perfect 270* coverage of ancient, gigantic Ponderosa pines to my SW. Even the fiercest winds never cause any damage to house or outbuilding because of this coverage. I'm vulnerable to the NW but those winds are never that strong. Like what I experienced on Monday.

What would, on a normal day, be in the upper 80's or low 90's was in the low 50's. It was just a mighty cold day.

Even right now what little wind I'm seeing comes out of the NE. I bet this is why I've seen no smoke from the fires 50 miles to the south( Colfax area ) and all that is burning in CA. I can hope this condition will hold but know better. Sooner or later things will revert to normal and the SW winds will bring smoke.

So, for now, the windows are wide open - the fans are blowing that cool, night air thru the entire house.

 

[Aquamoose]

Here in Deer Park, we got 25 mph winds, gusts up to 40-45. Just blew stuff around, no damages & very few branches. It was nothing compared to a micro downdraft storm some years back that snapped trees in half!

Very brief power loss and later, a vegetation fire that was quickly put out near us. Thank God for cool temps!

 

[bigtiller]

My town had intermittent winds of over 100mph for 30 minutes one month ago today.
Cedar Rapids, the 2nd largest city in Iowa had over 120mph.
Power was out for 5.5 days.
Nearly every property had damage, some more than others.
I have never seen so many trees and tree limbs on the ground.
After this map was published, all wind speed estimates were increased 20mph

 

[turnkey4099]

I was out currtting brush near Steptoe, wa Mon. wind blowing a full gale estimated around 45 or higher high dusst content. I was cutting in a grove so protected from the wind but I couild hear it roaring. I did bad, bad things for the fires b urning around the state. Malden Wa burned out. 120 homes in it, only 20 remaining, firehouse, post office and town hall all gone. I had left the patio door cracked for thedog when I left. 4 hours later and the house is full of dust.

 

[oosik]

turnkey4099 - imagine if you had been caught up on top of the butte. I've been "up top" when it's blowing pretty good. By the time you get down to the old orchard - nothing.

 

[turnkey4099]

turnkey4099 - imagine if you had been caught up on top of the butte. I've been "up top" when it's blowing pretty good. By the time you get down to the old orchard - nothing.

Oh, Yeah. The Wal Mart in Pullmn sits on top of a hill. Wind blows there when it isn't blowing anywhere else. Never been up the butte with the wind blowing, nice 1,000 foot climb up if I remember the geologic survey markers correctly.

 

[Diggin It]

The recovery in Cedar Rapids continues:

Cedar Rapids tries to turn city of stumps into tree oasis

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has long been known for its lush, leafy neighborhoods. But it took only 45 minutes last summer for a rare storm called a derecho to plow through the city with 140 mph winds and leave behind a jumble of branches, downed powerlines and twisted signs.

apnews.com

 

[oosik]

This spring it's not the wind. It's the uber dry conditions. Brownie & I walked to the far west end of the property yesterday. Almost all the bunch grass is already dry and tan. Looks like late August or September - dry as a popcorn fart. The "burn season" is long past, this year. Gotta wait for fall now.