Fierce winds cut power to thousands of Whatcom residents
Several thousand people were without power early Saturday, March 14, as a late-winter storm howled out of British Columbia with fierce wind and bone-chilling cold.
About 4,000 Puget Sound Energy customers were without electricity at 4 a.m., according to the company’s online outage map. The number was about 7,600 at 7 a.m. and 5,700 just before 10 a.m.
Hardest-hit areas were in northern Whatcom County -- including Lummi Island, Blaine, Birch Bay, Custer, Ferndale and Lynden.
As many as 6,000 PSE customers lost power as the storm gained strength late Friday.
Most outages were caused by falling trees and limbs, and by equipment failure, PSE said online.
Temperatures dropped below freezing Saturday as a rare March storm brought frigid northeast winds from the Fraser Valley.
It was 30 degrees at 5 a.m., according to readings at Bellingham International Airport.
Winds were sustained at 30 mph, with gusts over 50 mph.
That dropped the wind chill factor into the mid-teens, according to National Weather Service charts.
A high wind warning was in effect through 6 p.m. Saturday.
High temperatures Saturday might not reach 40 degrees.
More spring-like weather arrives Sunday, as the forecast calls for several days of sunny skies and temperatures ranging from the high 40s to the mid-50s.
This story was originally published March 14, 2020 at 6:42 AM.
