High winds caused power outages in at least four spots around Clark County on Wednesday.
In the worst incident, about 2,700 customers, including the entire Westfield Vancouver mall, lost electricity from about 3 p.m. to 3:35 after a tree limb fell on a power line and caused a circuit breaker to trip, said Mick Shutt of Clark Public Utilities.
Also, about 1,100 customers in the Ridgefield and La Center areas lost electricity from 9 to 10:35 a.m., Shutt said. A malfunctioning switch caused that outage.
There also were small outages Wednesday evening in the Port of Vancouver area, involving 30 customers, and Hazel Dell, involving 20 customers, Shutt said.
Vancouver’s Steve Pierce said winds gusted to 47 mph on the Interstate 205 Bridge between 3 and 4 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. He said Pearson Field in Vancouver recorded a 31 mph gust, between 4 and 5 p.m.
Pierce added that Cape Disappointment on the Washington coast near Ilwaco recorded a 71 mph gust.
Pierce, an executive board member of the Oregon chapter of the American Meteorological Society, had these comments about the weather: “Today’s was quite a strong storm by May standards, with several valley locations seeing southerly winds in excess of 40 mph as the storm raced ashore. … The system really got cranking as it neared the coast, following an unseasonably strong jet stream for this time of the year. This storm looked more like something we would see in midwinter, not late spring. Looking ahead, we are going to stay unsettled for the next few days. So, it looks like our ‘winter-like’ weather will continue for a few days before settling down. There is always hope for Memorial Day weekend, but at this point that is to far out to forecast accurately.”
And if you’ve been thinking May has not been warm, Pierce concurs.
“May of 2010 has been no warmer than 76 degrees at the Portland International Airport. At the present time, May of 2010 is tied for the third coldest ‘May maximum temperature for the month’ on record.”
