The government has a way with fooling with the calendar, as Monday was Columbus Day and Wednesday is as well. Observe one and celebrate the other? Anyway, Wednesday will be the 49th anniversary of the Columbus Day windstorm that ravaged the Pacific Northwest. Even though I was just a kid back then, I remember every moment as a vivid dream on that fateful Oct. 12, 1962.
Winds were clocked at 116 mph at the Morrison Bridge in Portland. Winds over 100 mph were noted here in Vancouver before wind gauges actually blew away or the power went out. We haven’t seen a windstorm like that since. The energy that developed this storm was remnants of old Typhoon Frieda.
There wasn’t much rain associated with the storm, just hours of relentless wind. I remember I had just saved up enough money for my first wind gauge which my dad installed a few weeks before upon our roof. Needless to say, it only went to 100 mph and the indicator needle was pegged at 100 mph. Then nothing. It had ripped off the roof and blew away. I always chuckle when telling this story and say that it probably ended up in Seattle.
I have told this to my children and now my grandchildren and maybe someday to my great-grandchildren. It is a Friday in October that will be with me forever.
