Quite a potent little storm that developed and moved quickly up the Oregon Coast and northward along the Washington Coast. Winds in Oregon were as high as 86 mph with scattered power outages from Lincoln City to Astoria. The Long Beach Peninsula was hit hard with widespread power outages and damage.
Some areas on the peninsula were expected not to have power until today. I was there Monday and at 9 a.m. a wall of wind hit the house and sounded like a freight train. My weather station had a gust of 60 mph after the power quickly went out. Dozens and dozens of trees were blown over and power lines and poles toppled like toothpicks.
I am writing this column on my battery-powered laptop and I expected back-up lights in the house after dark. Fortunately, in Vancouver winds were blustery but not devastating as along the coastal beaches. Goes to show you to always be prepared for foul weather, you never know when something unexpected occurs, like Monday’s storm.
We still have a large area of low pressure spinning to our southwest, keeping California inundated with heavy rains. The development Monday occurred when a smaller secondary low developed along the Oregon Coast. Rapid pressure falls and little warnings can happen. These are the most damaging windstorms we get. Rapid development moving northward and extremely close to the coast line. Good thing Monday’s storm was quite small compared to the Columbus Day windstorm that followed a similar path in 1962.
