Name: High Wind in Washington, December 16, 2001
Start: 2001-12-16T19:00
End: 2001-12-16T22:00
Location: Washington

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $25,000
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.

What forecasters said that day

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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 16, 2:30 PM PST, 4 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 16, 2:30 PM PST, 4 hours 30 minutes before

NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
230 PM PST SUN DEC 16 2001

WILL CONTINUE HIGH WIND WARNING FOR GRANDE RONDE VALLEY TONIGHT.
ODOT SHOWS GUSTS OVER 50 MPH SEVERAL TIMES TODAY.  GRADIENT HAS
TIGHTENED A LITTLE THIS AFTERNOON IN RESPONSE TO FALLING PRESSURES
IN BASIN AHEAD OF COLD FRONT.

UPPER LEVEL TROUGH AND COLD FRONT TO SWING THROUGH AREA LATE TONIGHT
AND MONDAY WITH RAIN...LOWERING SNOW LEVELS AND SHIFTING WINDS.
SNOW AMOUNTS BELOW ADVISORY CRITERIA ARE EXPECTED. COLD FRONT WILL
RAISE HAVOC WITH DIURNAL TEMPERATURE PATTERN
AGAIN...SO OVERNIGHT LOWS AND MONDAY HIGHS MAY BE CLOSE...ESPECIALLY
BASIN AND EAST.

DRIER AIR COVERS THE REGION MONDAY AND MONDAY NIGHT WITH NEXT WARM
AIR ADVECTION PRECIPITATION EPISODE FOR TUESDAY. COLD AIR FROM
MONDAY NIGHT WILL BE SLOW TO SCOUR OUT AND SNOW LEVELS WILL BE
INITIALLY LOW IN THE WEST ON TUESDAY. HULL

DAY 3-7...PATTERN REMAINS PROGRESSIVE THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD.
ZONAL FLOW ACROSS THE PAC NW WITH A DECENT WAVE MOVING THROUGH THE
FLOW WEDNESDAY. MODELS VARYING GREATLY WITH SOLUTIONS AFTER THAT.
MRFAND TO LESSER EXTENT THE ECMWF TRY TO BUCKLE THE ZONAL FLOW LATER
IN THE EXTENDED...WOULD LIKE TO BITE OFF ON A DRIER FORECAST LATE
FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. HOWEVER THE MODELS HAVE BEEN TRYING TO BUILD A
STRONG REGION OVER THE WEST FOR THE PAST FEW WEEKS...SO FAR IT HAS
NOT HAPPENED. AS SUCH NO I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN A SOLUTION WITH A
RIDGE SO WILL HOLD ONTO CHANCE WORDING THROUGH THE END OF THE
PERIOD. TOBIN

PDT 7313  ALW 7313  PSC 6114  YKM 7114

.KPDT...WSR-88D...VCP21/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.

.KPDT...HIGH WIND WARNING TONIGHT OREGON Z0NE 49.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Blue Mountain Foothills

When: December 16, 7:00 PM PST to 10:00 PM PST
Where: Blue Mountain Foothills forecast zone
Measured: 41 kt (47 mph)
Property damage: $25,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 46.264, -118.193 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Strong winds along the foothills of the Blue Mountains in Washington brought scattered power outages to residents around Walla Walla. Customers in Eureka lost power for around 4 hours. During this event, a peak wind gust of 47 mph was measured by ASOS at the Walla Walla Airport.

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

More

Every storm in Washington in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Washington, December 2001

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: 5273526.