The National Weather Service, Spokane, has issued a high wind watch in effect from Wednesday evening through Thursday morning over North Idaho and northeast Washington, with sustained southwest winds of 25- to 40-miles-per-hour and gusts of 50- to 65-miles-per hour.
Such winds have the potential to blow cats off your porch and strip birds of their feathers while in flight and to upend grazing cattle, not to mention stripping laundry from clothes lines and tipping over free-standing outhouses.
In addition, such high winds are likely to blow down limbs and trees, potentially blocking roads and downing power lines, resulting in power outages and spot fires, and make travel difficult, especially in high-profile vehicles.
Area residents are advised to tie their cats down overnight or tape them firmly to the porch rail and to knit or crochet avian long-johns and/or overalls for those birds who don’t weather the storm well. Above, please stay safe.