Scattered power outages remain as storms rumble through Boise area with rain, wind
After a bright and sunny day, the Boise area saw a freak thunderstorm spread quickly throughout parts of Ada County on Tuesday evening, leaving behind soggy conditions and power outages.
The National Weather Service in Boise issued a severe thunderstorm warning for northwest portions of Ada County, along with parts of Boise and Gem counties, and a storm just after 6 p.m. brought heavy rain, lightning, wind and hail to Boise’s downtown, parts of the Bench and North End, and to Meridian, Eagle and other cities. The advisory ended at 7 p.m.
A second series of storms moved through Southwest Idaho at about 8:30 p.m. but did not produce the severity of the first big storm. Boise got a little more rain and thunder, but not high winds.
More than 2,700 Boise-area customers, including in parts of downtown and on the Bench, were without power due to the weather at about 7 p.m., according to Idaho Power’s outage map. All of those outages were expected to be fixed at around 7:30 p.m., but more kept occurring throughout the area.
At 9 p.m. there were still eight small outages spread throughout the city, mostly along State Street and on the Bench. The largest of those outages affected a little over 100 customers.
Meteorologist Sophia Adams told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview “that the worst” of the downpour was over quickly as the center of the first storm moved north of Boise to the Emmett and Horseshoe Bend area. She added that residents should still be wary of possible lightning and strong winds.
A little under a half-inch of rain fell in about an hour’s time with that storm, Adams said.
Major flooding wasn’t a concern for the National Weather Service, though Adams said there could be some “localized ponding.” A large puddle of water at the intersection of 1st and State streets by St. Luke’s in downtown Boise was a good example of that.
Adams said the threat of thunderstorms wasn’t quite over, because lightning can strike up to 15 miles from the base of a storm. “Remember when thunder roars, go indoors,” she said.
Reporter Nick Rosenberger contributed.
