LOS ANGELES — The most powerful winds to tear across California in nearly 15 years toppled countless trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands.
The National Weather Service called Southern California’s winds Wednesday night a once-in-a-decade event, and it wasn’t over. Winds were expected to pick up again Thursday night, though not as fiercely.
Into this morning, winds were expected to gust up to 65 mph In the mountains and 50 mph in the valleys.
High-wind warnings and advisories were also issued for Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona and New Mexico. The blustery weather is expected to eventually hit Oklahoma, Missouri and Indiana.
The storms were the result of a sharp difference in pressure between a strong high- pressure system and a cold low-pressure system, meteorologists said. This funnels strong winds down mountain canyons and slopes.
The winds topped 102 mph in Utah.
California, however, was the hardest hit, with more than 200,000 utility customers without power. The gusts were blamed for toppling semitrailers and causing trees to fall on homes, apartment complexes and cars.
In some neighborhoods, concrete light poles cracked in half. Darkened traffic signals and fallen palm tree fronds and branches snarled traffic. At a Shell station, the roof collapsed into a heap of twisted metal.
“It was a terrifying ride for me, coming here in pitch dark . . . and watching motorists take no notice of lights being out,” said Bob Spencer, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works.
Bill Patzert of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory lives in Sierra Madre and, like hundreds of thousands of other people across the region, lost power at his home. A heavy tree limb blocked his driveway.
He estimated winds peaked between 80 to 90 mph in his neighborhood overnight.
“It was like being in a hurricane. I thought I was going to blow away,” he said.
In Colorado
