Storm doesn’t pack expected punch

An expected wind and rain storm fizzled Friday.

Clark Public Utilities reported scattered power failures related to the wind storm, the biggest affecting 1,089 customers in Hazel Dell when a tree limb fell into a power line near Gaiser Middle School shortly after 1 p.m.

Forecasters had been calling for gusts of up to 50 mph and an inch of rain.

However, the National Weather Service only fielded one report of a gust near 50 mph in the Portland-Vancouver metro area — a 48 mph early afternoon blast in Hillsboro, Ore.

Rainfall in Vancouver amounted to slightly over a half-inch through 6 p.m., by which time the storm, such as it was, had petered out.

Vancouver recorded a top gust of 36 miles per hour at Pearson Field.

“It was a little bit weaker than was actually expected,” said Wanda Likens, a meteorologist with the weather service in Portland.

It was a little more exciting at the coast, with a 78 mph gust reported at the aptly named Cape Foulweather and sustained winds of 49 mph at Yaquina Head. Both locations are north of Newport, Ore.

Forecasters are calling for a steady diet of April showers in the days ahead.