Strong southwesterly spread from the top of Mission Ridge to the northeast down Number One Canyon, Number Two Canyon, Pitcher Canyon and the Stemilt Canyon into the Wenatchee Valley. High wind also impacted the Waterville Plateau.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 southwesterly spread from the top of Mission Ridge to the northeast down Number One Canyon, Number Two Canyon, Pitcher Canyon and the Stemilt Canyon into the Wenatchee Valley. High wind also impacted the Waterville Plateau. Strong winds first appeared atop Mission Ridge, where a wind sensor at elevation 6740 feet measured sustained winds of 50-60 mph with a top gust to 103 mph at noon. (For more information on how the winds affected the mountains, see the Winter Storm entry for the Northern Cascade East Slopes.) From there, the wind came down the canyon southwest of the Wenatchee Valley and eventually brought a top wind gust of 53 mph to the Wenatchee Airport (Pangborn Field) at 135 PM. Atop the Waterville Plateau, the Douglas RAWS site measured a top wind gust to 76 mph around 200 PM. A private homeowner in Wenatchee Heights measured an unofficial wind gust of 112 mph.The high winds knocked over trees, blew down fences, and caused sporadic power outages. In Wenatchee, a 60-foot tall fir tree toppled over and landed on a house on North Elliott Avenue, causing $15,000 damage. One tree fell onto a power line on Crawford Street, knocking out power to about 700 homes from Appleyard in south Wenatchee to Stevens Street. High winds were also responsible for several thousand customers losing power along US Highway 97A from north of Wenatchee to the Stayman Flats area, including Entiat, the Entiat Valley and the Knapp Hill Tunnel. Other trees blew onto power lines on Atwood and Princton Streets near Wenatchee, and on Wapato Way in Manson. Wenatchee police shut down the intersection of Hawthorne and Yakima Streets for two hours when a pole with utility lines and a street light blew down. Other fallen trees had near-misses with an apartment on Fifth Street and a house on Gale Street.
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 Jan 20, 9:00 AM PST, 3 hours earlier.
EASTERN WASHINGTON AND NORTH IDAHO AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPOKANE WASHINGTON
900 AM PST SUN JAN 20 2002
WEATHER SYSTEMS AND JET CONTINUE TO SAG SOUTHWARD. SOME SNOW AND
ESPECIALLY WINDS...WITH BLOWING AND DRIFTING SNOW TO CONTINUE TODAY
OVER MUCH OF THE EASTERN WASHINGTON FROM SPOKANE COUNTY SOUTHWARD
INTO WHITMAN COUNTY. SNOW WILL PROBABLY BE OVER WITH BY ABOUT NOON
WITH WINDS CONTINUING INTO THE EVENING HOURS. WILL END THE SNOW
ADVISORY LATER THIS MORNING FOR THE OKANOGAN HIGHLAND AND TAKE A
CLOSER LOOK AT THE ONE FOR SPOKANE PULLMAN AREAS. WINTER STORM
WARNING TO CONTINUE ALSO OVER THE CASCADES AS STRONG WESTERLY WINDS
CARRY MOISTURE UP OVER THE CREST. THE WARNING FOR NORTHEAST
WASHINGTON AND THE NORTHERN PANHANDLE WILL ALSO RUN THROUGH TODAY
THEN PROBABLY END WITH AFTERNOON PACKAGE. PORTHILL REPORTED HEAVY
SNOW THIS MORNING. THE WARNING FOR THE CENTRAL PANHANDLE MOUNTAINS
WILL PROBABLY BE EXTENDED THROUGH TONIGHT. HEAVY SNOW CONTINUES TO
FALL AT MULLAN PASS AND A REPORT RECEIVED FROM THE LOWER WEST SIDE OF
CENTRAL IDAHO MOUNTAIN ZONE REPORTED 3.5 INCHES OF NEW SNOW THIS
MORNING. WALLACE RECEIVED 7.8 INCHES OF NEW SNOW. THE REAL QUESTION
MARK IS IN THE LEWISTON-CAMAS PRAIRIE AREA. WITH THE SYSTEM SAGGING
SOUTHWARD HOW MUCH SNOW WILL THEY RECEIVE. ETA PRECIPITATION WOULD
INDICATE ANOTHER 2 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW WHICH WOULD BRING THE TOTAL
AMOUNT WITHIN THE WARNING CRITERIA. SO WITH ALL THAT WILL NOT CHANGE
ANY OF THE HIGHLIGHTS UNTIL THE AFTERNOON PACKAGE EXCEPT TO END THE
SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE OKANOGAN HIGHLANDS AND UPDATE THE SNOW ADVISORY
FOR SPOKANE-COEUR DALENE-PULLMAN AREA TO MENTION BLOWING AND
DRIFTING SNOW.
...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 036/028/034/024/031 94632
COE 035/028/033/022/030 95632
PUW 039/029/035/023/032 95642
LWS 046/035/039/028/035 86632
CQV 035/027/033/023/031 +6733
SPT 034/026/033/024/030 +7743
WWP 033/027/033/023/032 +7754
EAT 039/025/037/024/034 52211
MWH 042/026/038/025/035 62322
.OTX...WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES TODAY FOR ID ZN 1 AND WA ZN
37,42...
...WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES TODAY AND TONIGHT FOR ID ZN 4
...WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY THROUGH MONDAY FOR ID ZN 27 AND WA
ZN 31...
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY TODAY FOR WA ZN 33, 36, AND ID ZN
2,3...The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 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, January 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: 5279172, 5279173.