Strong Gap winds caused some power outages and dropped temperatures to a wind chill in the 20s Thursday.
According to Puget Sound Energy’s website, vegetation and weather caused hundreds of customers to lose power, though the utility reports large-scale outages were avoided.
“Anytime a storm or anything happens, we are going to keep an eye out,” said Gerald Tracy, a spokesperson with Puget Sound Energy.
Tracy says crews that would normally be performing maintenance or other duties in areas expected to get strong winds or snow will instead be on standy by ready to respond. It’s a similar approach for Enumclaw’s Public Works department.
“When we get about an inch of accumulation is when we get the snow plows, the salters, the sanders and so forth and start clearing streets,” said Brian Spindor, the city’s public works director.
Spindor was expecting gusts upwards of 50 miles per hour Thursday, strong enough to trigger a high wind advisory through the evening. Spindor says Enumclaw is used to the easterly gap winds that frequently blow through town.
“Usually, when it gets up to around 70 mph, that’s when it starts to get concerning,” he said, “We’ll get a lot of crews out looking for downed branches, maybe street signs that have blown over.”
While the wind advisory has expired, a winter weather advisory remains in the region with the potential for snow through the evening. Today’s bout was far from the strongest winds the town has seen this season, with the Bomb Cyclone in November whipping gusts close to 90 miles per hour.
“When we’re having these kinds of storms back to back to back, some people don’t think about the lasting impact of these storms,” Tracy said, saying some branches may be weakened and have the potential to split.
Tracy and Spindor encourage people to have emergency kits with water, food, and blankets ready in case of an outage or any other impacts from the inclement weather.
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