Strong Wind Gust Hit As Seattle Construction Crane Collapsed

SEATTLE, WA — A 35 MPH wind gust was recorded in the area where the construction crane collapsed in Seattle on Saturday, coinciding with a "surge" in winds, according to a University of Washington meteorologist's assessment of weather conditions that afternoon.

Four people died in the collapse — including iron workers Travis Corbet and Andrew Yoder, and Seattle Pacific University student Sarah Wong — and three others were injured. The crane was being disassembled at the under-construction Google campus along Mercer Street when it fell onto the roadway.

According to UW meteorologist Cliff Mass, the collapse coincided with "the passage of a wind shift and surge in winds associated with the southward passage of a Puget Sound convergence zone." The 35 MPH gust was recorded at the Center for Wooden Boats, an unofficial weather station just behind the construction site.

Another nearby weather observation site recorded a northerly gust of 25 MPH right at the time of the collapse. That site, however, is about a mile from the Google construction site.

Mass does not conclude that the wind brought down the crane. The state Department of Labor and Industries is handling an investigation into the collapse.