LCSC

An 84 MPH Gust at the Lewiston Airport Closes Campus Until Noon

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Wednesday, December 17, 2025IDsevere stormadvisorylow confidence

A severe wind storm swept through north-central Idaho and southeastern Washington early on the morning of December 17, 2025, with gusts reaching 84 mph at the Lewiston airport and knocking out power to more than 25,000 Avista customers across an eight-county region. Lewis-Clark State College closed its Lewiston campus until noon because of storm damage before resuming operations later that day.

Alerts: 1
Response: min
Killed: —
Injured: —

Institution

Lewis-Clark State College

Public Bachelors · ID

~4,000 studentsWarrior Mail / Phone Tree

Official alert policy

Read when and how LCSC says it will use Warrior Alert — summarized, quoted, and analyzed.

Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

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Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmailEarly morning, December 17, 2025 (PST), as the wind storm hit and before classes were scheduled to begin

Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from Lewiston Tribune and Moscow-Pullman Daily News reporting that LCSC's campus was closed until noon 'because of damage from wind storm'; the exact wording of LCSC's own notice was not published208 chars

Lewis-Clark State College Alert: Due to damage from this morning's wind storm, campus will be closed until noon today. Please avoid campus until further notice. Updates will follow as conditions are assessed.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The storm produced sustained winds mostly in the 50-to-60-mph range regionally, with an 84 mph gust recorded at the Lewiston airport, among the more severe wind events reported in the Lewiston-Clarkston valley in recent years

Avista Utilities reported 285 separate outages affecting more than 25,000 customers across an eight-county region of north-central Idaho and southeastern Washington, warning that some outages could last multiple days

Regional coverage did not specify whether LCSC's own buildings lost power directly or whether the closure reflected downed trees, debris, and general storm hazard on campus; 'damage from wind storm' was the only cause cited in the reporting reviewed

Context

Background

A powerful wind storm moved through the Inland Northwest overnight into the morning of December 17, 2025, producing sustained winds in the 50-to-60-mph range with an 84 mph gust recorded at the Lewiston airport and an 81 mph gust at the Pullman airport just across the Washington state line. Avista Utilities reported 285 separate outages affecting more than 25,000 customers across an eight-county region of north-central Idaho and southeastern Washington, and warned that assessing all storm damage could take 24 hours or more, with some outages potentially lasting multiple days. Against that backdrop, Lewis-Clark State College closed its Lewiston campus until noon because of storm damage, one of several regional school closures and delays reported that morning alongside Lewiston's public schools, which delayed their own start by two hours. The storm also damaged multiple hangar roofs at the Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport. Coverage reviewed for this case did not specify the precise nature of the damage to LCSC's own campus or confirm a direct campus power outage, only that the college cited storm damage in closing through midday.

Analysis

Key Findings

LCSC's closure decision came amid a genuinely severe regional wind event (an 84 mph gust at the Lewiston airport) rather than routine winter weather caution

The college's own cited reason, 'damage from wind storm', was less specific than the region-wide Avista outage figures, illustrating a common gap between an institution's terse closure notice and the fuller picture available from utility and news reporting

LCSC's half-day closure (until noon) was shorter than the multi-day outage timeline Avista warned some customers could face, suggesting the campus itself was not among the most severely affected sites

The closure occurred alongside broader regional school delays and closures, situating LCSC's response within a coordinated local pattern rather than an isolated campus decision

Provenance

Sources

Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Lewis-Clark State College: An 84 MPH Gust at the Lewiston Airport Closes Campus Until Noon." Incident of December 17, 2025. Added July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/lewis-clark-state-college-wind-storm-closure-2025-12-17/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

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