Wind by the numbers

A wind storm buffeted the Matanuska Valley beginning on Sunday, whipping around anything that wasn't tied down -- and plenty of things that were.

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On Sunday, January 10 at 10am, winds in Palmer were variable at 7 mph.
Source: National Weather Service

By Sunday evening, winds were 51 mph with gusts to 74.
Source: National Weather Service

The Beaufort Scale classifies winds 74 mph and above as "hurricane."
Source: NOAA Storm Prediction Center

The ambient air temperature of 24F made the wind chill temperature during Sunday's peak wind 0F.
Source: NWS Wind Chill Index

Manatuska Electric Association reported scattered outages throughout their service area, which includes Birchwood.
Two outages, one on Sunday and one on Monday, knocked out power to most of the Valley (but only for 10-20 minutes).
Source: MEA spokesperson Lorali Carter

During the height of the storm, MEA had all 16 of their linemen working and had called in additional contract crews.
Winds on Tuesday morning were calm.
Source: National Weather Service

Contact Stephen Nowers at stephen(at)alaskadispatch.com.