Power Outage in Kalispell, MT

Thunderstorm outflow winds caused a few downed trees and tree branches which resulted in several power outages around Flathead Lake northward to Whitefish. The main power outages were centered on Woods Bay, Echo Lake, and in the Whitefish area with around 1000 customers without power for a time.

Thunderstorm outflow winds caused a few downed trees and tree branches which resulted in several power outages around Flathead Lake northward to Whitefish. The main power outages were centered on Woods Bay, Echo Lake, and in the Whitefish area with around 1000 customers without power for a time.

Widespread high winds were reported as a line of thunderstorms, in the form of a squall line, moved north-northeastward across the region. While wind gusts of 50 to 60 miles per hour were common, a person from the public in Kila reported a measured peak wind gust of 78 miles per hour, and the ASOS at Glacier Park International Airport recorded a peak wind gust of 69 miles per hour. Numerous trees were either snapped in half or uprooted,��which resulted in over 200 power outages and 37,000 customers without power. Several houses and vehicles were destroyed as trees fell onto them. Highway 2 and Montana Highway 83 were both covered by fallen trees for a time. A local electric coop remarked that this wind event may be the largest, most damaging outage event in our history.

Multiple reports of tree damage and a localized power outage occurred southeast of Kalispell and Evergreen according to a call to the NWS office and via Twitter reports.

The weather sensor at the Kalispell International airport reported a gust to 55 mph, and heavy rain with reduced visibilities as low as one mile for at least 19 minutes. It reported 0.27 of rainfall in 23 minutes from 4:32 to 4:55 pm MDT. As the gust front moved through the Kalispell area, there were reports of a dust storm that brought visibilities down to near zero for several minutes before the rain began. The dust cloud moved through an open door of the Glacier High School setting off fire alarms and filling the school with dust. The school's custodial staff had to spend the night removing and cleaning the dust out. The strong wind caused large trees to fall, knocking down power lines and blocking roads. The power company reported approximately 2,500 people without power for a time that evening.

The Kalispell ASOS station measured a strong southerly wind gust to 55 mph. The Flathead Valley power companies reported that around 5,000 customers lost power from 8pm MDT through the early morning hours on August 26. Multiple trees fell on power lines causing the outages.

Downed power lines caused power outages and temporarily blocked U.S. 2 in Evergreen Sunday night.

A member of the public measured strong gusty winds that pushed over three large Ponderosa Pine trees and power outages. A tree fell onto a transmission line that impacted two power substations causing power outages for the Many Lakes and Echo Lake area.

There were 20 reports of wind damage in and around Kalispell. Blown over Trees took power lines down and damaged some houses. In addition, 2115 people were without power for a few hours.

A trained spotter two miles north of Creston reported wind gusts up to 60 mph. In addition small hail was reported with this storm. The Creston Fire Department reported|extensive damage from numerous trees blown down onto power lines. A sailboat was tipped over on Blaine Lake with four people thrown into the water. A large fir tree was blown down onto a home on Bachelor Grade Road. Up to 100 trees were blown over along Bachelor Grade Road.

Numerous trees and power poles were blown down along the northern shores of Flathead lake. The roof to Carpenter's Arena near Kalispell was blown off. Damage to two other roofs was observed. One small grain silo was blown over near Somers. The damage observed from the NWS storm survey crew was indicative of straight line wind damage. Based upon the damage observed, winds were estimated to be between 80 and 100 mph.

Nickel size hail was reported covering the ground in Kalispell. Power was also reported out to most of the county.

The combination of very dry atmosphere and a weak thunderstorm produced a severe microburst in the Kalispell area causing tree damage and a power outage.

An upper level trough moved from southwest Oregon on the morning of August 25th to southern British Columbia by the morning of the 26th. This system initiated strong thunderstorms on the evening of the 25th and also during the early morning hours on the 26th. These storms produced gusty winds that caused trees to topple over causing power outages and vehicle damage across portions of northwest Montana.

Scattered thunderstorms brought power outages to portions of northwest Montana while a man was injured by lightning in Ravalli county.

An upper level disturbance moved south out of British Columbia to produce a favorable environment for thunderstorms and and strong winds across northwest Montana. Numerous powerline and trees were blown down due to strong thunderstorm winds up to 65 mph.

A microburst caused numerous trees to blow over onto power lines, 2 parked vehicles, and a power transformer.

Severe thunderstorms rolled across Northwest Montana during the afternoon hours. Winds and heavy rain were the main threats from the storms. NWS Missoula received many reports of trees 12 inches in diameter blown over with rainfall rates as high as 1.37 inches in 20 minutes. Power outages were also widespread as tree limbs fell on the lines. The Kalispell underpass also flooded as a result of very heavy rain.

Strong thunderstorms moved through the northern and eastern portions of the Flathead Valley from Whitefish, Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Corum to Ferndale and to Big Fork. Thunderstorm winds caused numerous trees to fall onto power lines with widespread power outages. Flathead County Sheriff also reported damage to a roof of a business in Kalispell.

A line of thunderstorms with wind gusts exceeding 60 mph, moved through Sanders, Lake and Flathead Counties, leaving a wake of wind damage to power lines, trees, buildings and airplanes. As the storms moved through Sanders County, strong winds knocked down trees onto power lines and injured a man in Paradise. In the town of Dixon, strong winds blew roofs off homes that hit and damaged the Old Dixon Store. As the storms moved through Lake County, wind damage was reported from Ronan to the southern end of Flathead Lake. Strong winds at the Ronan Airport caused the ropes to break off a Cessna 150, which careened into a Cessna 172, damaging both airplanes. Trees were reported uprooted near Finley Point and Polson, leaving at least two houses damaged from fallen trees. Strong wind gusts tore off part of the face of the Old Mill Place along Main Street in Polson, damaging a vehicle. 10 miles west of Polson, a small barn was blown over in Irvine Flats. Before the storms weakened in Flathead County, a twelve inchdiameter tree was blown over near Big Fork, damaging a home owners fence.

Gusty winds blew throughout western Montana late afternoon into the evening hours. In the Butte area,law enforcement reported power outages and partial roof damage to a home in the afternoon with wind estimated to be in the 40 to 50 mph range. In the Kalispell area, wind damage occurred when a large evergreen tree fell on a home and large limb fell on a pickup truck. Near the city airport, the roof blew off a pumping station and metal siding or roofing was torn off one of the airport hangers. Flathead Electric Cooperative reported about 4000 customers were without electricity from trees and branches falling on utility lines and blocking roads. Winds were estimated to range from 50 to 60 mph.