The Howling Wind: Southwest Washington Grapples with a Furious Winter Storm

Honestly, you just knew it was coming, didn't you? That particular kind of Sunday night when the wind picks up, first just a whisper, then a low moan, and before you know it, the whole house feels like it's bracing for impact. And indeed, impact it had. This past weekend, Southwest Washington was truly pummeled, left reeling by a furious onslaught of wind that ripped through the region, plunging tens of thousands into darkness and sparking a chaotic start to the week.

From the moment those gusts really began to bite Sunday evening, a familiar dread settled in. We're talking serious wind here, not just a breezy afternoon. Near Chehalis, the air practically shrieked with 65 to 70 mph gusts, a force powerful enough to send everything not nailed down — and some things that were — flying. Even Longview Airport clocked a respectable 55 mph, which, let's be frank, is more than enough to cause absolute mayhem.

The fallout? Pretty immediate, as you might imagine. Thousands, and I mean thousands, of homes and businesses suddenly went dark. Cowlitz PUD, a local lifeline, found itself scrambling to restore power to a staggering 14,000 customers. Not to be outdone, Pacific Power faced its own battle, with some 3,600 accounts blinking out. For those of us who've lived through these kinds of events, it's a testament to the sheer, unyielding power of nature; it truly can bring things to a grinding halt.

The landscape itself bore the scars of the storm. Majestic trees, some standing for decades, succumbed to the relentless assault, their branches snapped like twigs, their trunks toppled across roads. Highway 4, a critical artery, found itself blocked in several spots, a testament to the widespread damage. And, for once, the decision to close or delay schools felt less like an inconvenience and more like an absolute necessity. Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock, Toutle Lake, Kalama, Woodland — pretty much everyone got the memo: stay safe, stay home, if you can.

Cowlitz County Emergency Management, quite rightly, issued an alert, urging folks to prepare, to be vigilant. The National Weather Service had, of course, issued its wind advisory, but honestly, sometimes you just have to feel it to believe it. While the strongest winds did eventually subside by Monday morning, leaving a landscape littered with debris and flickering traffic lights, the threat isn't entirely gone. The forecast still whispers of more rain and the possibility, the unsettling possibility, of yet more wind later in the week. So, for now, we pick up the pieces, keep an eye on the sky, and remember just how wild our weather can truly get.