A cold air mass that moved into the area yesterday wreaked some havoc weather-wise, causing hail storms, gusty winds and even some reports of snow in the higher hills. The gusty winds were responsible for some power outages and property damage yesterday afternoon. The Cowlitz PUD reports that almost 1,100 customers lost power in two main outages reported yesterday. 843 customers along the lower portion of the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway and Tower Road lost power at 11:23 am, when a tree fell into an overhead line; repairs were completed just before noon. 230 customers along the Kalama River Road were knocked off for about 45 minutes yesterday afternoon, caused when tree limbs fell into overhead lines. PUD crews were also called to remove the roof of a trailer house that blew off at 11th and Tennant Way at about 1:30 pm. The roof landed in some overhead lines, but didn’t cause an outage. Longview Police say that the mobile home was seriously damaged by the wind, but no injuries were reported. The eastbound lane of Delaware Street was also blocked at 20th for about an hour, when a large tree fell over at about 1:25 pm. There was also a report of a dusting of snow in the Alston Corner area, along with an overnight power outage. This cool air mass is expected to persist through today, dropping snow levels down as low as 800 feet this morning, rising to 1,200 feet later today. Overnight temperatures have also dropped down around freezing this morning, so there could be some icy patches on area roadways.
