Strong winds swept the South Sound Friday morning, with gusts reaching 45 mph as power outages were reported in Tacoma, Lakewood and on remote Herron Island. The outages unfolded as the National Weather Service issued a Wind Advisory for Tacoma and the South Sound.
The Tacoma News Tribune reported that 843 customers in Tacoma lost power, along with 692 in Lakewood and 261 on Herron Island. Those reported outages across the three areas amounted to nearly 1,800 customers.
Wind Advisory Covers Tacoma and the South Sound
The outages coincided with a Wind Advisory that the National Weather Service in Seattle placed over Tacoma and the South Sound later in the morning Friday, ending at 5 p.m., forecasting sustained winds with gusts reaching 40 to 45 mph. The NWS discussion said the system would create windy conditions south of its low-pressure center, according to the National Weather Service.
That positioning turned out to matter a great deal for Tacoma. Analysis from Emerald City Weather Blog explained that the storm's low-pressure track shifted north over Seattle, pushing the strongest wind field directly into Tacoma and the southern Puget Sound region rather than sparing it as earlier forecasts had suggested.
Why Fall Storms Hit Harder Than Expected
Part of what made Friday's moderate winds so disruptive comes down to timing. The National Weather Service said foliage on trees could contribute to branches falling and power outages.
Tacoma Public Utilities spokesperson Mike Halliday told the News Tribune that wind caused the outages. At the time of the report, Tacoma customers had not been given an estimated restoration time; the outlet said customers could report outages through Tacoma Public Utilities' outage map.
Three Utilities, Three Very Different Territories
The storm's impact touched three separate utilities with very different footprints. Tacoma Power, a division of Tacoma Public Utilities, is a municipally owned utility established in 1893 that delivers electricity to roughly 180,000 customer accounts across 180 square miles covering Tacoma, University Place, Fircrest and unincorporated Pierce County, per Tacoma Public Utilities.
Tacoma Power’s Reliability Benchmark
Tacoma Public Utilities’ 2021 annual report said Tacoma Power provided 99.94% availability to customers that year. That annual measure does not provide a comparison of typical outage frequency or duration, or by itself show whether Friday’s outage was unusual.
Lakewood's outages, meanwhile, fell to Puget Sound Energy, which serves 1.26 million electric customers, primarily in the Puget Sound region, according to Puget Sound Energy. Out on Herron Island, restoration falls to Peninsula Light Company.
Secondary Hazards and Recent History
The National Weather Service's area forecast discussion also flagged a 20% to 25% chance of afternoon thunderstorms and showers accompanying the high winds, tied to an upper-level trough crossing Puget Sound.
Friday's outage total reached nearly 1,800 customers across the three affected utilities.
