Leaders with Avista described the storm as "historic" when comparing it to the 1996 Ice Storm which happened on November 19. Wind storm power outages surpass '96 Ice Storm Leaders with Avista described the storm as "historic" when comparing it to the 1996 Ice Storm which happened on November 19. Check out this story on KREM.com: http://on.krem.com/1O1cXnv SPOKANE, Wash.- The wind stormed that rolled through the Inland Northwest on Tuesday night left more people in the dark than Ice Storm 1996 according to leaders at Avista Utilities. As of 9:00 p.m., Avista was sorting out more than 161,000 customers who were without power in Spokane County.