Oregon Chapter – American Meteorological Society
A group welcoming weather professionals, enthusiasts, and those with an interest in science.
Meeting Recap: Columbus Day Storm 60th Anniversary
Almost 60 Oregon AMS members and friends gathered at OMSI for our largest meeting of the past 2 years.
It was a “deep dive” into not only the Columbus Day Storm of October 1962, but a look at other dangerous wind storms in the region. The meeting was recorded and you can watch it here:
You can view/download Professor Cliff Mass’s presentation here:
And WATCH it here: https://fb.watch/f-u39MnTXy/
View/download Dr. Wolf Read’s presentation here:
And WATCH it here: https://fb.watch/f-t-vB4uqo/
And Cliff’s 2nd presentation on future technology here:
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4 comments on “Meeting Recap: Columbus Day Storm 60th Anniversary”
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Oregon Chapter - American Meteorological Society 
Pingback: Cliff Mass Weather Blog: The 60th Anniversary of the Northwest’s Biggest Storm of the Last Century: The Columbus Day Storm - Trueorleans News
Pingback: Bulk Cliff Weather Blog: 60th Anniversary of the Northwest's Greatest Hurricane of the Last Century: Columbus Day Storm - News7g
The Columbus Day storm was not the greatest NW storm.
Yes, the storm had the greatest peak wind…but the wind, rain and flooding event of early December 2007 (Dec 1-3) in southwest WA and NW Oregon was a far greater storm.
Quote from Storm King website: “the December 1-3, 2007 gale completely outclasses the Columbus Day Storm” (for duration)” Wolf Read is right, but there is much more..
The early Dec 2007 storm had it all:
24 rainfall >14”, greatest hourly rainfall rates ( >.7”/hr for more than 10 hours). Chehalis river at Doty only 500 year peak streamflow (USGS) ever recorded in Western WA. Unprecedented record high West Coast storm surge (5.1ft) – caused West Coast coastal engineering textbooks to be updated/rewritten. Record high ocean swell 47.5ft. near WA coast. Greatest (duration)sustained winds: 30 – 40 plus mph for 48 hrs, then the final 24 hr highest winds on the third day peaked at 140 mph (Naselle Ridge). There were more than a thousand landslides, extensive forest damage, major power outages and I-5 underwater for days in the Chehalis area.
Btw – storm was well forecasted days in advance. PDX and SEA NWS had it dialed in. A salute to them. We knew it would possibly be historic, but it was even worse than we thought. With forecast confidence high, the Seattle US Army Corps completed preemptive protection measures reinforcing a rock jetty costing 100’s of thousands of dollars hours before the main storm hit. Prevented major damage to the Shoalwater tribe facilities.
One of the greatest atmospheric rivers (AR 5) ever to hit the West Coast of the U.S. with 2.5 billion in damage claims and very high integrated moisture plume – one of the highest ever recorded.
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