A vigorous storm system moving across southern British Columbia brought high wind to parts of the upper Columbia Basin on the evening of December 16. In the town of Coulee Dam, a large tree was blown over onto a house.
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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.
The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
A vigorous storm system moving across southern British Columbia brought high wind to parts of the upper Columbia Basin on the evening of December 16. In the town of Coulee Dam, a large tree was blown over onto a house. Numerous shingles were blown off the roof of Wright Elementary School.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Spokane, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 16, 2:30 PM PST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.
EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WASHINGTON
230 PM PST SUN DEC 16 2001
STRONG OVERRUNNING PATTERN EARLY THIS EVENING WHILE A COLD FRONT
REACHES THE COAST. IT HAS TAKEN A LOT OF TIME TO SCOUR COLD AIR OUT
FROM THE VALLEYS TODAY...AND WHILE NUCKOLS RAWS SITE IN SHOSHONE
COUNTY (ELEV 4160 FT) INDICATES 34/33 TEMP/DEWPOINT...IT HAS
CERTAINLY TAKEN THE BETTER PART OF THE DAY TO REACH THAT LEVEL.
REGARDLESS...850 MB SOUTHWESTERLIES AT 40-50 KNOTS WILL CONTINUE
TONIGHT ALLOWING FOR SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS OF WET SNOWS. COLD AIR
HAS BEEN LOCKED INTO THE METHOW VALLEY AS WELL TODAY...HOWEVER
WASHINGTON PASS RAWS (ELEV 5642 FT) HAS RISEN TO THE FREEZING MARK
WITH EQUAL TEMP/DEWPOINT READINGS AT STEHEKIN (1230 FT). A WIDE
RANGE OF SNOW LEVELS WILL BE FOUND IN WA ZONE 42...HOWEVER EVENTUAL
VEERING OF WINDS TO SOUTHWEST AND WEST WILL LIMIT THE HEAVIEST
ACCUMULATIONS NEAR THE CREST.
LOOKING AT GUIDANCE...AVN CONTINUES TO BE FASTER THAN ETA IN THE
SPEED OF THE COLD FRONT. AVN HAS SHOWN MORE CONSISTENCY IN THE TIMING
INCLUDING THE LOWERING OF SNOW LEVELS DURING THE DAY MONDAY. STRONG
WINDS WILL STILL MENTIONED AT THE RIDGETOPS...THEN DECREASING DURING
LATER MONDAY AND BECOMING MORE WESTERLY. THIS WILL FAVOR CONTINUED
SNOW SHOWERS ACROSS THE CENTRAL PANHANDLE AND WILL EXTEND THE WSW
THROUGH MIDDAY.
NEXT SYSTEM BRINGS WARM ADVECTION ACROSS THE CASCADES TUESDAY THROUGH
A COLD ATMOSPHERE...THEREFORE AFTERNOON SNOW ACROSS THE EAST SLOPES
WITH SNOW DURING THE NIGHT ELSEWHERE. PRECIPITATION SHOULD
TEMPORARILY DECREASE LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AS THE UPPER TROUGH SPINS UP
A SURFACE LOW OFF THE OREGON COAST. JR
IN THE EXTENDED...WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...NO APPARENT REASONS TO
BELIEVE THAT AN END TO THE RELENTLESS STORM TRACK WILL OCCUR. AS
MENTIONED ABOVE..SYSTEM WILL BRING MOSTLY SNOW TO THE REGION ON
WEDNESDAY. AVN TRACK BRINGS SURFACE LOW SOUTH OF SPOKANE REGION AND
THIS COULD BE A GOOD SETUP FOR HEAVY SNOW FOR THE REGION. MORE STORMS
PROGGED BEYOND THIS ONE THOUGH EXACT TIMING UNCERTAIN. MODELS DO TRY
TO TREND A SLIGHT WARMING PATTERN IN THE SYSTEMS...THOUGH SNOW LEVELS
LOOK TO REMAIN RATHER LOW WITH ONLY VALLEYS SEEING ANY RAIN THREATS.
WILL CONTINUE BROAD BRUSH EXTENDED FORECAST.
FYI...SO FAR THIS WATER YEAR /OCT 1 - DEC 15/ SPOKANE HAS RECEIVED
6.20 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. FOR THE ENTIRE WET SEASON WATER YEAR
LAST YEAR /OCT 1 - MAR 31/ SPOKANE RECEIVED 5.36 INCHES CR
...THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRODUCT CONCERNING WARNINGS AND FORECASTS
IS VALID ONLY AT THE TIME OF ISSUANCE. THE LATEST WARNING AND
FORECAST INFORMATION WILL BE FOUND IN THE APPROPRIATE PRODUCTS...
GEG 036/038/025/034/029/034 850466
COE 036/038/022/032/028/032 85-466
PUW 035/039/024/034/030/034 850466
LWS 040/045/031/039/034/040 85-366
CQV 035/038/023/032/029/035 861466
SPT 035/037/023/031/028/033 +72466
WWP 034/036/024/031/027/030 +73466
EAT 034/038/024/031/029/033 330455
MWH 038/041/026/034/030/034 430455
.OTX...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE NORTH CASCADES
ABOVE 5000 FEET THROUGH THIS EVENING.
...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR NORTHEAST WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO
PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS ABOVE 4000 FEET THROUGH TONIGHT.
...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THE CENTRAL IDAHO PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS
ABOVE 4000 FEET THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, December 2001
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: 5273857.