High Winds Could Cause Damage and Power Outages in Boise This Eve

An impending string of triple digit days isn't the only extreme weather Boise is bracing for. The Treasure Valley is bracing for the possibility of wind gusts up to 60 miles per hours late in the day on Tuesday.

The National Weather Service has issued a High Wind Watch for the Treasure Valley effective from 5-10 p.m. The thunderstorm outflow winds have the potential to cause sustained wind speeds of 20-40 miles per hour in addition to the nearly 60 mile per hour gusts. Winds that high can lead to downed trees and powerlines, reduced visibility from blowing dust and sporadic power outages.

We're giving you a heads up not to scare you, but to prepare you for what could happen. It's not uncommon for really hot days in the Treasure Valley to end with a windstorm or microburst that we "never saw coming." Then we get upset that we didn't "get enough notice" bring in our lawn chairs and plants or tie down our trampolines. The weather forecast you saw was obviously "wrong," right?

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Kody Wilson at Treasure Valley HQ touched on this briefly at the beginning of June. He explained that the weather apps you use on your phone aren't useful for predicting things like this. They're good for radar and real time conditions, like the current temperature. Even when severe weather like this is predicted, the entire area might not experience the most extreme conditions. He put together a really great graphic and a post jam packed with Star Wars references to explain why we're caught off guard when storms like this happen. You can view that here!

Even Kody, who is regarded as the most accurate forecaster in the Treasure Valley, says be prepared for the high winds. It's a significant enough event that he took time out of his Hawaiian vacation to update his followers and predicted even stronger gusts of up to 70 mph.

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So, better safe than sorry! You rather get home and secure things in your yard in case these winds blow through your neighborhood than completely ignore the heads up and have your trampoline destroyed...again.

TIPS: Here's how you can prepare for power outages

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