Tree service in Pend Oreille County, Washington

Storm records for Pend Oreille County

Few Washington counties see a record this lopsided. Heavy snow accounts for 288 of Pend Oreille County’s 348 NOAA reports, about five in every six, with wildfire (13), winter weather (10) and thunderstorm wind (10) a distant second tier. January alone produced 109 reports, December 83 and February 50; 78% of the record falls between November and February.

The pace has dropped sharply. NOAA counted 36 reports in 2023 through 2025 against 93 in 2017 through 2019, and 2018 by itself logged 78. Even so, the county still ranks fifth in the state, and none of the 348 reports carries a death or injury.

For a homeowner the pattern points at one failure: conifer limbs and tops breaking under wet snow, usually in midwinter, often with the road snowed in. Have leaning or forked trees over the house looked at in the fall, before the first heavy storm, not after.

NWS forecast zones covering the county: Northeast Mountains.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, 2016 to June 2026 · NWS zone-county correlation files (2019 to 2026 versions). Checked 2026-10-02. NOAA Storm Events 2016-2026; zone-based events assigned to every county the NWS zone covers using the zone-county correlation file in force on the event date (2019-04-02 file used for 2016-2018).

Hazard ratings

Strong wind: Relatively LowIce storm: Relatively LowWinter weather: Relatively LowWildfire: Relatively Low

FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates Pend Oreille County Relatively Low for strong wind, ice storms, winter weather and wildfire, and Very Low overall. USDA’s Forest Service puts the county’s wildfire risk to homes at the 47th percentile among Washington counties, close to the middle.

Those ratings weigh exposure and population, so a thinly settled county scores low even with a heavy snow record. They do not erase the fire side: NOAA tied about $33 million in damage to the lightning-started Crown Creek fire near Marble in late summer 2025. If you live on a forested lot, defensible-space thinning is a reasonable planned job here.

Wildfire risk to homes: higher than 47% of Washington counties (USDA Forest Service, Wildfire Risk to Communities).

What to do about wildfire exposure: defensible space in Washington and Oregon.

Source: FEMA National Risk Index, December 2025 release · USDA Forest Service, Wildfire Risk to Communities (April 2026 download). Checked 2026-10-02.

Burning the debris

No local clean-air agency covers Pend Oreille County, so the Washington Department of Ecology’s statewide rules apply: no residential or land-clearing burning inside urban growth areas or cities over 10,000 (WAC 173-425-040), plus limits on materials, a person in attendance and a 50-foot setback (WAC 173-425-050). Fire-district burn bans can sit on top of that; the Washington burning guide explains how to check.

Full rules, seasons and alternatives: yard debris burning rules in Washington.

Source: Washington Department of Ecology. Checked 2026-10-02.

Power lines and utilities

The electric utilities serving Pend Oreille County are not mapped on this site yet, so there is no outage line or line-clearance policy listed for them here. Until they are, the utilities page explains who is responsible for trees near service drops and primary lines in Washington, and why any tree touching a wire is a job for the utility or a line-clearance crew.

Source: utility vegetation-management pages linked above; WAC 296-24-960 (WA L&I). Checked 2026-10-02.

Cities and towns in Pend Oreille County

Newport, with 2,114 people, is the only incorporated city tracked here, and its tree-permit rules have not been researched yet. The county as a whole has 14,457 residents spread over about 1,400 square miles (Census Vintage 2025), up 7.87% since 2020, so most tree work happens on rural parcels where the county, not a city, sets the rules.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates Vintage 2025 and 2020 Census. Checked 2026-10-02. Permit rules from each city’s code; see the city pages.

Labor index

BLS puts the mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners at $25.94 an hour in the Spokane-Spokane Valley area, the metro estimate used for this county. That is a labor index, not a price: the modeled crew-hour range below adds payroll costs, equipment and overhead. Travel time matters more than wage here, since most crews drive in from larger towns.

Spokane-Spokane Valley, WA: $25.94 per hour mean wage for tree trimmers and pruners (BLS, May 2025). This is a labor index, not a price; the modeled crew-hour cost used on this site is $210 (method).

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, SOC 37-3013 · U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023, NAICS 561730. Checked 2026-10-02.

Climate and growing conditions

Most of the county sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a, with pockets of 6b on the 2023 map. Winters are cold enough to rule out many west-side ornamentals, so replant with species that hold up to snow and frost, such as ponderosa pine, western larch or native Douglas fir. Spring planting after the snow goes off gives roots a full season before the next winter load.

USDA hardiness zones 6a, 6b (2023 map, by ZIP code).

Source: USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 (OSU PRISM ZIP data). Checked 2026-10-02.

Nearby counties

• Stevens County357 storm reports since 2016
• Ferry County158 storm reports since 2016
• Spokane County707 storm reports since 2016
• Lincoln County310 storm reports since 2016
• Whitman County99 storm reports since 2016

What to do next

After a snowstorm, stay clear of hung-up limbs and any tree near a wire, then work through the fallen tree guide and the Washington storm damage and insurance guide. For planned work, get a risk assessment on trees over the house before November, then call. Check any contractor in the Washington license lookup first.

Services: tree removal · trimming · stump grinding · emergency. Check any company: Washington license lookup.

Major storms that reached Pend Oreille County

These regional storms produced NOAA Storm Events reports in Pend Oreille County since 2016. Each storm page lists the dates, report counts and the other counties hit.

• September 2024 eastern Washington windstorm
• January 2021 windstorm
• Labor Day 2020 east wind event
• January 2017 ice storm
• October 2016 storm series