Moses Lake tornado confirmed

COLUMBIA BASIN — The National Weather Service confirmed the report of a Wednesday night tornado passing through Moses Lake was a class zero.

A class zero is the lowest rating of power. The tornado touched down on a farm on Road P, about five miles northeast of Moses Lake. It lifted a barn about 10 to 15 feet in the air, rotated it and moved it about 25 feet from its foundation. The barn was destroyed.

A storm survey indicated the non-continuous tornado was about 300 feet wide and moved from south to northwest with winds estimated between 65 mph and 85 mph.

The windstorm Wednesday night led to several power outages throughout Grant County.

Grant County PUD Public Information Officer Rita Bjork explained Royal City was hit hardest with outages. It appears lightning may have struck a lightning arrestor leading to nearly 1,600 power accounts being affected at roughly 8:15 p.m. The lightning arrestor is supposed to absorb a lightning strike to protect equipment. Power was restored to 1,218 accounts at about 9 p.m. and the remaining 470 accounts were restored at about 11 p.m.

More than 200 accounts were affected in Beverly when a power line went down. Power was out at about 6 p.m. and restored by 7:40 p.m., she said.

In the Mae Valley area in Moses Lake, about 20 accounts were affected, Bjork said. It appears the cause may have been lightning striking transformers.

At about 6:30 p.m., two power poles broke, leading to outages affecting 16 accounts outside of Soap Lake, she added. The poles were replaced and power was restored at about  midnight.

Power was out at the Basin Retirement Home in Ephrata from 7 p.m. to about 8 p.m., Bjork said.

There were several other smaller power outages reported in Wilson Creek, Coulee City and Hartline.

At J.R. Simplot, on Wheeler Road in Moses Lake, the wind caused damage to the roof and siding on a receiving building.

Weather service meteorologist Mike Fries explained a cold front moved through the area from the west with winds reaching 50 mph. The rain and thunderstorms continued toward Spokane.

“The next few days you are going to have some cold nights,” he said. “Temperatures remain below normal until early to middle of next week and we’ll get you guys back up to the 70s.”

Fries explained usually the temperature is in the 70s, but Wednesday, there was a 17 degree drop.

“The vast majority of the storm activity will be far to our south … Northern California and Oregon,” Fries said.

Winds at the Grant County International Airport peaked at about 45 mph on Wednesday, he said. In Ephrata, George, Othello and Warden, wind reached between 33 mph and 39 mph. In Vantage and along Interstate 90 at Dodson Road, winds reached 48 mph.