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Weather Eye: Warm front, then cold, result in blustery weather

The Columbian
Published: September 26, 2011, 5:00pm

As Winnie the Pooh would say, “It was a blustery day in the neighborhood.” Both Sunday and Monday lived up to that quote, for sure. Winds knocked a few tree branches on power lines in the Portland area Sunday, I heard.

Winds were stronger Monday after a warm front went through in the morning. We had a brief respite before the cold front was moving in late Monday. A high-wind warning was up for the Oregon and Washington coasts and some inland areas of Western Washington Monday with afternoon wind speeds over 55 mph at Clatsop Spit and over 70 mph on Destruction Island.

As of 4 p.m. Monday, Bellingham had winds close to 50 mph while most inland areas had winds in the 25-35 mph range. I noticed some collateral damage with small limbs and twigs down around our local area as well. Kind of gets one in the mood for a nice warm fire in the fireplace and candles maybe.

After months of pretty mundane-looking satellite photos, the storm on Monday was pretty impressive. A nice wrapped-up low spinning in the Gulf of Alaska. I heard from one weather watcher north of Tillamook on Monday and he was really enjoying the winds and crashing surf. I wish I were there.

Monday’s low was part of Typhoon Roke off Japan last week. Not as strong as the remnants of Typhoon Frieda that developed into a major windstorm on Oct. 12, 1962, the Columbus Day windstorm caused massive destruction in Oregon and Washington with power out to major cities for a week or longer. That anniversary is coming up in just a couple weeks or so.

A brief break midweek is on tap and then maybe more rain late in the week and weekend. The first half of October is looking wet with maybe a good windstorm at least along the coast Oct. 3 or 4, so stay tuned.

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.

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