The Other Perfect Storm
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Let's face it: in the Pacific Northwest, the weather's not usually too dramatic. This is a land of gentle rains and mild air. A 30-degree temperature swing makes the headlines. But when it does get wild, it can *really* get wild. And it's never gotten wilder than it did on Columbus Day in 1962. That's the year a colossal tempest, their Perfect Storm, socked Portland and Seattle. Hi I'm Dave Thurlow for the Mount Washington Observatory and this is the Weather Notebook.

That day dawned like most other October days in the Northwest: temperatures were in the 40s, with light winds. But out in the Pacific, some dodgy weather was brewing. The main ingredient in this brew was the remnants of Typhoon Freda, which lived out its life in the western Pacific. But the leftover moisture and low pressure from Freda merged with a strong upper-level storm as it approached the U.S. As this new storm swept up the coast, it switched the winds from an easterly breeze to a southerly blast. At Mt. Hebo, Oregon, the winds gusted to 131 miles an hour. Thousands of trees blew down across the region, and power was knocked out for as long as three weeks. In Oregon, more than 50,000 homes were damaged.

The Columbus Day storm of 1961 caused 38 deaths, and it also caused meteorologists to take a closer look at Pacific Northwest storms. One scientist at the University of Washington believes this was the truly "perfect storm." According to Professor Cliff Mass, the Columbus Day storm is even more impressive than the Atlantic cyclone depicted in last summer's movie.

Perfect or not, the Columbus Day storm did show that there's a lot more to Northwest weather than the drizzle and fog it's known for. Our show is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory, mountwashington.org. Thanks today go to writer Bob Henson.