High Wind in Washington, November 5, 2005

Name: High Wind in Washington, November 5, 2005
Start: 2005-11-05T18:00
End: 2005-11-05T21:00
Location: Washington

November 5, 2005 · NWS SEW · 1 event in 1 county or zone

High wind from Centralia to Yelm knocked out power to about 15,000 people. Several hundred trees fell, with about 10 homes and 6 cars damaged.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: $500,000
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 happened

The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.

High wind from Centralia to Yelm knocked out power to about 15,000 people. Several hundred trees fell, with about 10 homes and 6 cars damaged. A police officer was injured when struck by a tree limb.

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 Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 5, 8:15 AM PST, 9 hours 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 5, 8:15 AM PST, 9 hours 45 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
815 AM PST SAT NOV 5 2005

.SYNOPSIS...A WARM FRONT WILL SPREAD RAIN OVER THE AREA TODAY AND
BRING SNOW TO THE MOUNTAINS. A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS
WESTERN WASHINGTON THIS EVENING...BRINGING BREEZY CONDITIONS. A
SERIES OF WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL BRING UNSETTLED CONDITIONS TO THE
AREA THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK.

&&

.SHORT TERM...LIGHT RAIN HAS SPREAD TO MOST EVERYWHERE ON RADAR
IMAGERY AND SATELLITE INDICATES WARM FRONT IS OVER WESTERN WA. HAVE
UPDATED ZONES FOR RAIN AT TIMES TODAY. ALSO PRETTY GOOD SNOW COMING
DOWN IN THE CASCADES SO WILL ISSUE A SNOW ADVISORY TODAY...TO BE
REPLACED BY A WINTER STORM WATCH FOR TONIGHT.

12Z GFS HAS LOW FORMING OFFSHORE...REACHING KHQM AROUND 01Z...THEN
MOVING NE TO KBLI OR SO BY 06Z. ANY PRES GRADIENT IS BEHIND THE LOW
PASSAGE AND AT THIS POINT IT LOOKS WINDY OR BREEZY THIS EVENING
BEHIND THE FRONT...BUT NO HIGH WIND. SHOWERS SUN AND MON. SUNDAY
STILL LOOKING NOT ALL THAT WET WITH WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT AND A WEAK
SURFACE RIDGE. BURKE

.LONG TERM...PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...FLAT DIRTY RIDGE ALONG 130W
TUE-THU WILL GIVE WINDY BUT WARMER CONDITIONS. GFS IN PARTICULAR
SHOWS HIGH QPF VALUES MIDWEEK WITH FREEZING LEVELS QUITE A BIT
HIGHER THAN CURRENTLY FORECAST WHILE THE ECMWF IS A BIT COOLER AND
FARTHER S WITH THE JET. IF THE GFS PANS OUT WE COULD SEE A RATHER
HEAVY RA ON SN EVENT FOR THE MOUNTAINS WITH SNOW LEVELS RISING TO
7000 FEET MIDWEEK GIVING HYDRO PROBLEMS TO SOME RIVERS. STILL TOO
EARLY FOR ANY TYPE OF FLOOD POTENTIAL OUTLOOK. ALBRECHT

&&

.AVIATION...WARM FRONT AND INCREASING RAIN WILL GIVE LOWERING CIGS
AND VSBYS THRU THE DAY. I THINK BY AFTERNOON AVERAGE CONDITIONS WILL
BE 3-5SM IN MODERATE RAIN WITH CIGS 2000 FEET AND AREAS IFR
POSSIBLE. A FEW CHANGES ON THE NEXT PACKAGE...FOR THE TWEB TO
ELLENSBURG...I WILL SHOW SNOW ON THE EAST SIDE LOWER VIS IN SNOW
PROBABLY GOING TO IFR. CASCADES OF COURSE WILL BE COMPLETELY
OBSCURED BOTH SIDE OF THE CREST. AND THE TWEB ON THE COAST WILL HAVE
SOME WIND IN IT AS THE LOW TRACKS THRU THE SW INTERIOR LATE TODAY. MM

&&

.SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
SNOW ADVISORY TODAY CASCADES.
WINTER STORM WATCH TONIGHT CASCADES.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY ALL WATERS.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR HAZARDOUS SEAS GRAYS HARBOR BAR.

&&

.KATX...VCP21/CSR21 OPERATIONAL.

WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE

Event by event

1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Southwest Interior

When: November 5, 6:00 PM PST to 9:00 PM PST
Where: Southwest Interior forecast zone
Measured: 37 kt (43 mph) measured sustained
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Property damage: $500,000
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

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 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Washington, November 2005

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: 5479612.