Hunkers

By the weekend, warmer temperatures eased concerns among the Pacific Northwest utilities hit by record demand and thousands of outages in the wake of a freezing Arctic storm that drove through the region at the beginning of the week. In the eastern portion of the state of Washington, a spokesperson for Avista Utilities said Friday the weather was “beautiful,” and the area had avoided the potential fall-out from freezing rain that can ice up power lines causing them to sag or come down from the extra weight as happened in the western portion of the state and Oregon.