Powerful Storm System Batters Western US, Leaving Widespread Destruction

Listeners, over the past week, a powerful fast-moving storm system has battered the western United States with widespread destructive winds associated with rapidly moving thunderstorms, cutting power to hundreds of thousands and downing trees across Washington and Oregon. KOMO News reports that in western Washington, wind gusts hit 112 mph at Alpental and 99 mph at White Pass, leading to over 250,000 power outages at peak, with Puget Sound Energy alone affecting nearly 99,000 customers including most of Whidbey Island. FOX Weather details how gusts reached 71 mph at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island and a staggering 138 mph on Mount Hood in Oregon, toppling a semi-truck on U.S. 195 near Idaho and closing highways like White Pass due to fallen trees and high winds.

This storm, part of a coast-to-coast system, intensified with a rare Severe Thunderstorm Warning from the National Weather Service highlighting destructive gusts, compounding damage from prior flooding where levees failed along the White and Green Rivers, forcing evacuations in Pacific and Tukwila. The CIRA Satellite Library notes the mid-latitude cyclone bringing strong gusts across the western US and Great Plains, while AOL reports hurricane-force winds up to 60 mph at Spokane International Airport, disrupting travel in over 30 states as it tracks east.

Governor Bob Ferguson called it one of Washington's most devastating disasters, with 1,200 rescues across 10 counties, major highway washouts on U.S. 2 expected closed for months, and a state of emergency approved for FEMA aid. Though not officially classified as a derecho, the line of thunderstorms produced long-lived, widespread winds fitting the pattern, with blizzard warnings now in the Cascades and another atmospheric river targeting the region today.

Stay safe out there as conditions ease but flooding lingers on rivers like the Skagit. Thank you for tuning in, listeners—come back next week for more. This has been a Quiet Please production, and for me check out Quiet Please Dot A I.

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