Subzero weather, winds have county shivering

SANDPOINT - Gusting winds and sustained subzero temperatures wrecked havoc this weekend as winter's first body blow struck Bonner County.

Adding to the frigid temperatures - which bottomed out at minus 1 over the weekend - surging winds brought wind chill temperatures down to as low as minus 20.

It was that combination of wind and severe cold that left thousands of Bonner County residents without power for parts of the weekend, according to officials from Avista and Northern Lights utility companies.

"Really extreme cold temperatures can have a couple of effects on our system," said Avista's Debbie Simock. "Number one, customers are using more power and heaters are going more, and that puts a greater load on lines —they're forced to carry more energy. If there is any kind of weakness in older equipment, it can cause that equipment to fail."

Avista reported scattered outages of less than 50 customers in Sandpoint, Priest River, and Hope, and one larger outage in Sagle that temporarily left 700 customers without power. Approximately 1,200 Northern Lights customers were adversely affected by the weather, with 900 outages in Priest River alone, said Northern Lights official Elissa Glassman.

Both companies were able to get customers back online by Monday.

Frozen pipes and dead batteries were also prevalent over the weekend, clogging phone lines for local plumbing and auto repair companies.

"Today we were probably pushing close to 80 calls (about frozen pipes)," said Molly Huckaby of Three Amigos plumbing.

"We've actually had more calls than that, but, for a lot of people, we couldn't get to them today so they decided to try to do it themselves or call someone else."

Despite the relative low snow accumulation — only eight inches total - all schools in the Lake Pend Oreille School District were closed Monday. Superintendent Dick Cvitanich said he decided to close the schools after weather forecasts Sunday night called for wind chill temperatures to reach 30 below.

"For today, we really felt like it wouldn't be good having our little guys out there waiting for the bus," Cvitanich said. "I'm quite happy we did it. We don't really want to see them have to trudge home and be out in that cold any longer than they have to."

The weather also affected driving conditions, causing numerous slide-offs, said Capt. Rick Bailey of the Sandpoint Police Department.

Bailey said the department has been inundated with calls about minor accidents and cars stuck in snow.

"The basic tips are to leave early, slow down and don't drive past your comfort zone," Bailey said. "You should also dress appropriately for the weather and keep a blanket and maybe some basic supplies in your vehicle in case you go off the road or in case of an emergency."

Forecasts call for continued cold weather as the week progresses, with temperatures dropping to 8 below Tuesday night.