Storm knocks out power, causes 'bizarre' light show

COEUR d’ALENE — The most productive snowstorm to hit North Idaho since 2009 wiped out power to thousands Monday night. And as the storm was dumping 12.8 inches of snow in Kootenai County, some residents observed spectacular yet eerie flashes of light.

“It was so bizarre. I kind of just saw something out of the corner of my eye,” said Jimmy McAndrew, who went straight to Facebook to ask his friends and family if they had witnessed it as well.

“Anyone else catch that? Strange super-bright lights (not lightning) and electricity going off and on. I feel like maybe the start of a sci-fi movie is going down in our hood,” McAndrew posted on the social media platform. “It was very extraterrestrial-ish.”

Facebook friends from Hayden to Post Falls reported similar sightings of red and green lights.

After some wild UFO speculation, McAndrew and his friends eventually determined the weight of the snow was knocking out transformers all over the county.

“It was like the light was pulsating,” McAndrew said. “It was just ultra-bizarre.”

Avista spokeswoman Jessie Wuerst confirmed the Facebook friends’ conclusion. The snow was weighing down transformers and power lines, causing lines to break and creating arcs of electricity.

“The snow is very wet and heavy. When the water in the snow mixes with dust that has built up on the transformers, it could cause pole fires,” Wuerst said. “With that comes a kind of flashing light.”

Wuerst said Avista’s social media department did see customers posting comments about transformers arcing, but the company didn’t engage in any discussion about that. Post Falls was hit particularly hard Monday night.

“Officers responded to numerous weather-related calls due to the heavy snowfall. These calls were crashes, slide offs, downed power lines, downed poles and power outages,” police said in a press release. “The streets department was requested to start early due to several light signals being out and heavy snow on the roadways.”

Post Falls Police said power lines were down Monday night at Poleline Avenue and Syringa Street as well as Seltice Way and Spokane Street, causing outages in the neighborhoods and street lights to either be flashing red or completely out.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there were still issues with a transformer and several power lines near the Post Falls Public Library, which caused power outages. The traffic lights at the intersections of Seltice Way at Idaho Street, Spokane Street and Chase Road were not working properly.

Erika Neff, from Kootenai Electric Cooperative, said crews made good progress Tuesday, restoring power to more than 5,000 members who lost power due to the storm.

“We currently have approximately 2,400 members without power and crews working in the following areas: South of the river near Riverview Drive, Fernan and French Gulch, Hayden Lake and Kidd Island,” Neff said in an email Tuesday afternoon. “We’ve called in all available contract crews and we hope to add more crews (today). Crews are working 24-7.”

Neff said Kootenai Electric could not provide estimated restoration times for individual outages, but it will continue providing updates on areas where crews are working.

Wuerst said Avista is also posting updates online, where its outage map is constantly updated to include reasonable restoration times in most cases.

Meteorologist Randy Mann said a snowstorm this size has not hit Kootenai County in seven years, and more snow is headed this way.

The 12.8 inches of snow from Monday’s storm put this year’s total snowfall at 24 inches, Mann said.

“This one storm just walloped us,” he said. “Which, it isn’t uncommon during El Nino to get a large heavy snow in one event. That is exactly what we got (Monday) night.”

The last time a storm this size hit the region was in January 2009, when 16 inches of snow fell. Mann said last winter our region only saw about 36.5 inches of snow, and this winter he is predicting 45 to 50 inches of snow.

Some of that will arrive soon.

“We should see at least 6 more inches in the next week or so,” Mann said.

Mann said he believes the weather will become much milder toward the beginning of the new year.

Wuerst said Avista is aware of the coming system of snowstorms and is preparing for them.

“These outages we have (as of Tuesday) will be back up and running before Christmas,” she said, adding Avista doesn’t foresee the next storms doing as much damage.

“Let’s just hope Mother Nature doesn’t have a lump of coal for our stocking.”