Columbus Day Storm of 1962

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The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 was an extratropical wave cyclone that ranked among the most intense to strike the United States Pacific Northwest since at least 1948, and probably since the January 9, 1880, "Great Gale" and snowstorm. On a larger scale, the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 is a contender for the title of most powerful extratropical cyclone recorded in the U.S. in the 20th century; with respect to wind velocity, it is unmatched even by the much-touted March 1993 "Storm of the Century" and the "1991 Halloween Nor’easter" (aka "The Perfect Storm"). In the eastern United States, only hurricanes of Category 3 or higher have brought winds of the magnitude witnessed in Oregon on Columbus Day, October 12, 1962.

1 Wind speed highlights
2 Damage Highlights
3 The human dimension
4 Some meteorological details
5 External links

[edit] Wind speed highlights

At Oregon's Cape Blanco, an anemometer that lost one of its cups registered wind gusts in excess of 145 mph (233 km/h); some reports put the peak velocity at 179 mph (288 km/h).

At the Mt. Hebo Air Force Station in Oregon's Coast Range, the anemometer pegged at its maximum 130 mph (209 km/h) for long periods—likely at the level of a Category 4 hurricane; damage to the radar domes suggested wind gusts to at least 170 mph (270 km/h). Dome tiles were thrown down the mountainside; the 200 lb (45 kg) chunks tore through entire trees.

At the Naselle Radar Station in the Willapa Hills of southwest Washington, a wind gust of 160 mph (257 km/h) was observed.

At Corvallis, Oregon, an inland location in the Willamette Valley, 1-minute average winds reached 69 mph (111 km/h), with a gust to 127 mph (204 km/h), before the anemometer was destroyed and the observation tower began flying apart, forcing the abandonment of the station.

Ninety miles (145 km) to the north, at Portland, Oregon's major metropolitan area, measured wind gusts reached 116 mph (187 km/h) at the Morrison Street Bridge.

Many anemometers, official and unofficial, within the heavily stricken area of northwestern Oregon and southwestern Washington were destroyed before winds attained maximum velocity.

For the Willamette Valley, the lowest peak gust officially measured was 86 mph at Eugene. This value, however, is higher than the maximum peak gust generated by any other Willamette Valley windstorm in the 1948–2003 period.

In the interior of western Washington, officially measured wind gusts included 78 mph at Olympia, 88 mph (138 km/h) at McChord Air Force Base, 100 mph (160 km/h) at Renton at 64 feet (20 m) and 98 mph (158 km/h) at Bellingham. In the city of Seattle, a peak fastest mile of 65 mph (105 km/h) was recorded; this suggests gusts of at least 80 mph (129 km/h). Damaging winds reached as far inland as Spokane.

Wind gusts of 58 mph (93 km/h), the National Weather Service minimum for "High Wind Criteria," or higher were reported from San Francisco, California, to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Most of these peak gusts were taken at official stations.

[edit] Damage Highlights

In less than 12 hours, over 11 billion board feet (26,000,000 m³) of timber was blown down in northern California, Oregon and Washington combined; some estimates put it at 15 billion board feet (35,000,000 m³). This exceeded the annual timber harvest for Oregon and Washington at the time. This value is above any blowdown measured for East Coast storms, including hurricanes: even the often-cited New England hurricane of 1938, which toppled 2.65 billion board feet (6,000,000 m³), falls short by nearly an order of magnitude.

Estimates put the dollar damage around $230 million to $280 million for California, Oregon and Washington combined, with nearly $200 million occurring in Oregon alone. These figures, in 1962 dollars, are comparable to land-falling hurricanes that occurred within the same timeframe (say 1957 to 1961, Audrey, Donna, Carla). The dollar damage adjusted to 2002 for inflation and population/property increase suggest a $3 to $5 billion storm, if not more^{[citation needed]}.

In the Willamette Valley, it is said that the undamaged home was the exception, with the damaged house being the rule. Also, many barns and other farm structures were destroyed by the storm; so many, in fact, that it is a safe bet to surmise that any Valley barn encountered today was built after October of 1962.^{[original research?]} Livestock suffered greatly to the barn failures: the animals were crushed under the weight of the collapsed structures, a story that was sadly repeated many times throughout the afflicted region. At the north end of the Valley, two 500-foot-high (150 m) voltage transmission towers were toppled, as well as a radio tower in Portland's West Hills.

For northwest Oregon, the entire power distribution system had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Some locations did not have power restored for several weeks. This storm became a lasting memory for local power distributors; indeed, a number of high-wind-related studies appeared in the years after the storm in attempt to assess the return frequency of such potentially damaging winds.

The effects of the Columbus Day storm are still present today. For example, many of the unimproved backcountry roads used by hunters, recreationists and loggers were put in during an intense timber salvage effort aimed at recovering some of the billions of board feet toppled by the gale. Also, the heavy-duty design of the radio towers on Portland's West Hills, with extensive and robust guy cables, is a direct result of the lessons learned by the 1962 catastrophe.

[edit] The human dimension

At least 46 fatalities were attributed to this storm, more than for any other Pacific Northwest wind event. Injuries went into the hundreds. In terms of storm-related fatalities for the 20th century, only Oregon's Heppner flood of 1903 (200 deaths) and Washington's great avalanche of 1910 (96 deaths) caused more. For Pacific Northwest windstorms in the 20th century, the runner up was the infamous October 21, 1934, gale, which caused 22 fatalities, mostly in Washington.

The level of emergency caused by this storm exceeds that of any other Pacific Northwest event in memory. When queried, locals who experienced the storm nearly unanimously tell an account that is both interesting and frightening. The memory is vivid even four decades after the storm. For many, the response was to seek shelter immediately, move away from windows and go into interior rooms or basements. Few storms in the Pacific Northwest invoke such a strong response.

[edit] Some meteorological details

The low developed explosively off of Northern California when the degraded remains of typhoon Freda encountered a storm formation region that had spun up an intense cyclone the day before. The new (Columbus Day) low first moved northeastward, and then hooked straight north as it neared southwest Oregon. The storm then raced nearly northward at an average speed of 40 mph (64 km/h) or greater, with the center just 50 miles (80 km) off of the Pacific Coast. There was little central pressure change until the cyclone passed the latitude of Astoria, Oregon, at which time the low began to degrade. The center passed over Tatoosh Island, Washington, before landing on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where it weakened rapidly.

The extratropical wave cyclone deepened to a minimum central pressure of at least 960 hPa (28.35 inHg), and perhaps as low as 958 hPa (28.30 inHg), which would be equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale. All-time record-low land-based pressures (up to 1962) included 969.2 hPa (28.62 inHg) at Astoria, 970.5 hPa (28.66 inHg) at Hoquiam, Washington, and 971.9 hPa (28.70 inHg) at North Bend, Oregon. The Astoria and Hoquiam records were broken by a major storm on December 12, 1995 (966.1 hPa at Astoria)—this event, however, did not generate winds as intense as the Columbus Day storm of 1962.