High Wind in Washington, August 26, 1997

Name: High Wind in Washington, August 26, 1997
Start: 1997-08-26T13:00
End: 1997-08-26T17:00
Location: Washington

August 26, 1997 · NWS PDT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 high wind, as filed by the National Weather Service.

The toll

Deaths: 2
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, East Slopes Southern Cascades

When: August 26, 1:00 PM PST to 5:00 PM PST
Where: East Slopes Southern Cascades forecast zone
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph)
Deaths: 2 direct, 0 indirect

Wind caused power outages in approximately 1500 homes from Toppenish to Grandview. Light damage was done to area apple and pear crops that had yet to be harvested. The windstorm also split a tree that knocked down a power line and electrically charged an irrigation ditch. Two teenagers were shocked and drowned while swimming in the ditch the next day, August 27.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
High Wind, East Slopes Southern Cascades	1997-08-27	15	Female	In Water	Direct
High Wind, East Slopes Southern Cascades	1997-08-27	13	Male	In Water	Direct

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Washington in 1997 Every state in 1997 This day in weather history Warnings in Washington, August 1997

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5614804.