Strong westerly jet stream winds sinking south from Canada brought high wind to parts of eastern Washington on April 22. At 150 PM and 237 PM PDT, a school net site near Mansfield in Douglas County measured sustained winds of 40 mph.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Strong westerly jet stream winds sinking south from Canada brought high wind to parts of eastern Washington on April 22. At 150 PM and 237 PM PDT, a school net site near Mansfield in Douglas County measured sustained winds of 40 mph. Wind blew power lines off insulators in the Saint Andrews area of eastern Douglas County, causing a power outage there. At 352 PM PDT, the ASOS at the Grant County Airport (5 NNW Moses Lake) measured sustained winds of 43 mph with gusts to 48 mph, reducing the visibility to one mile in blowing dust. At 356 PM PDT, the ASOS at the Spokane International Airport measured sustained winds of 41 mph with gusts to 50 mph reducing the visibility to 3 miles in blowing dust. Also in the Spokane area, a 75-foot tall pine tree was blown over near Whitworth College onto a residential fence. Just south of Spokane around 500 PM PDT, large pine trees were blown down near 61st and Yale at the same time that a nearby school net site measured sustained winds of 40 mph. The wind was responsible for power outages in the Seven Mile area northwest of Spokane. Later in the evening at 841 PM PDT near Oroville (in the northern Okanogan Valley), a RAWS site there measured a wind gust to 77 mph. The wind caused damage to power lines and caused power outages in the Aeneas Valley and Tunk Creek areas.
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 Apr 22, 8:25 AM PST, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.
EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WASHINGTON 925 AM PDT MON APR 22 2002 SEVERAL FACTORS ARE LINING UP TODAY FOR SOME PRETTY STIFF WIND. A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL TROUGH CONTINUES TO DIG SOUTH THROUGH B.C. TODAY WITH A SHORTWAVE TROUGH DIVING SOUTHEAST ALONG THE B.C. COAST NEAR THE QUEEN CHARLOTTES RIGHT NOW. THIS HAS FORCED JET STREAM WINDS SOUTH OVER THE FORECAST AREA TODAY. THE SHORTWAVE MOVING SOUTHEAST ALONG THE COAST WILL PASS THE FORECAST AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON. THIS IS WHEN MID-LEVEL WINDS WILL REACH THEIR PEAK...AND COLD ADVECTION BEHIND A FRONT WILL FURTHER AID IN STEEPENING LAPSE RATES AND MIXING. 00Z SOUNDINGS FROM THE LAST TWO DAYS HAVE SHOWN DRY ADIABATIC MIXING TO ABOUT 650 AND 750 MB WITH TODAY HAVING THE POTENTIAL TO MIX TO THE HIGH END OF THAT RANGE. WITH 700 MB WINDS AROUND 50 KTS DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON WHEN WE HAVE THE DEEPEST MIXED LAYER...THE POTENTIAL IS CERTAINLY THERE FOR SOME LOW ELEVATION WIND GUSTS TO NEAR 50 MPH FROM 00Z TO 03Z. MISSION PEAK (ELEV 6740 FT SW OF KEAT) WAS ALREADY GUSTING TO 48 MPH AT 0700 PDT WITH A RAPID INCREASE IN THE TREND...SO THE SETUP IS STARTING. AT WENATCHEE...THE TIMING OF MAX WINDS WILL ALSO COINCIDE WITH THE CLIMATOLOGICAL EARLY EVENING WIND PEAK. OTHERWISE...THE STIFF WESTERLY FLOW AND A LACK OF MOISTURE WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL CERTAINLY KEEP THINGS DRY BETWEEN THE CASCADE CREST AND THE BITTERROOT CREST. BLOWING DUST IS A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY IN THE SANDY ARID AREA FROM RYEGRASS HILL TO SOUTH OF MOSES LAKE. HANER ...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 059/032/052/030/057 00000 COE 059/031/050/029/054 11100 PUW 058/031/052/029/056 00000 LWS 066/037/059/035/063 0-000 CQV 067/033/057/031/061 11100 SPT 060/033/049/031/054 12100 WWP 056/030/048/028/052 12100 EAT 066/038/060/036/065 00000 MWH 066/036/060/034/065 00000 .OTX...NONE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, April 2002
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: 5289688, 5289689, 5289690, 5289691.