Wind speeds - Coastal and Willamette Valley

[Tesaje]

The highest wind I could find was at Cape Meares 10 minute sustained at 70 mph gust to 114. But shortly after that report, it is pretty clear the anemometer was destroyed. Still not actually hurricane force but definitely a high wind and wild storm. Newport has the second highest wind readings. It looks like the NWS hyperbole of calling it a hurricane force wind warning was over called. I guess the NWS is jumping on the exaggeration band wagon that the news media has been on for a long time.

Hurricanes deliver very high winds that don't let up and that sustained battering is what makes them so dangerous. This storm is blowing hard and is a dangerous storm, but it is not as strong as the most minimal hurricane. You aren't experiencing what New Orleans did.

[tiffela74]

i agree...just a very strong storm w/a lotta flooding now.
on the upside for me, after losing power 3x and not getting it back on after an hour stretch, my boss FINALLY agreed to cancel work! Yeeaahhh!! lol Of course, my youngest (just turned 6) is terrifed of storms, and power outages so she didnt think this was so very fun. Finally get her calmed down and I said "lets hit Walmart real quick and pick some stuff up" We were on the OTHER side of the store when ,of course, BLINK and out go all the lights....Walmart w/o power is an interesting place.....especially w/a terrified kid. sheesh.
on the downside, our recycle bins have gone to find new homes apparently. We searched for about 20minutes last night and not hide nor hair of em. sigh.
Well, i guess we're good for the next 10yrs or so now for storms.....
Tiff

[Artful-Thang]

I guess Tesaje is right about the hyperbole.

I was watching the Weather Channel yesterday morning before work. They featured a short segment on a really old tree that had gone down...looked like it broke off. They said it was a landmark and so people were carrying off pieces of the tree as a souvenir. (Said over a shot of a man carrying off a huge chunk of the tree trunk.) I logged online and read the first comments and wondered what was going on. The Weather Channeltalking about the dangerous hurricane force winds while showing 2 or 3 shots of different costal scenes. One included a kid all bundled up but roller skating along a sidewalk along with a jogger or two...and shots of waves that didn't looked stormy but not monstrous.

This morning on the Weather Channel they're saying Portland is having flooding. They say Bay City got the highest gusts at 129 mph. Lincoln City or Beach got the next highest. I thought they said Cape Meares was getting 120 mph gusts on Sunday night? Oh well. They are also showing shots of flooded streets. (Finally the flood shot is labeled...Chehalis, WA is flooded.)

You folks up there should watch the Weather Channel, then you'd know what was REALLY going on. ;-)

I love the wandering recycling bins...used to happen at my childhood home with trash cans in our Santa Ana winds. That, and all the neighbors fallen leaves and yard flotsum would end up right outside our front door for us to dispose of. Worked out well for our neighbors who never had to rake their front yards.

We had a couple of whirlygig things on our roof that let out the heat in our attic during the summer (forget what they're called). One year they tore right off our roof along with some tiles. Another year our wooden backyard fence blew down along with more roof tiles.

It sounds like I'd probably be able to handle the winds up there...I'll just have to adjust to it raining hard at the same time as blowing.

[tiffela74]

some of the local news channels and sites have some good pics/data try
Oregonlive.com
KATU.com
KPTV.com
and for the coast, or at least Coos County
KCBY.com
and TheWorldlink.com

Personally, Im sick about the tree finally going down. It was a Sitka and the biggest in America (or maybe it was tied w/another) anyhow, over 700yrs old, and a real landmark here in Oregon. HUGE impressive tree and it was just incredible to go and see. I remember as a kid, laying my hand on the bark and wondering who else had before me.. pioneers?...indians?...and just being amazed at the sheer size of it. It actually had been damaged real bad before and last year they debated taking it down, but decided against it, to let nature take its course...well, nature did just that. sigh. You can probably find some good sites on it if you google Oregon Sitka Spruce.
Tiff

[little peg]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnr

We had roofs blown off a few weeks ago by "hurricane force" winds. Farther north, up the coast from here (Lincoln City). Those were forecast at 90mph, some were much stronger but the readers only gave us a 57mph rating.
Today's winds have taken some large branches down - but worse, took out the local cable channels - no football!! Big games for a lot of us today, too. I haven't seen the weather yet but I'd guess some gusts were only 70 or so. NBD. Clean-up tomorrow or next day as the winds are still forecasted for tomorrow. Rains have been intermittently drenching to nearly stopped. The storm a couple weeks ago had more rain and stronger winds ... so far. They had bigger winds than that since then - but inland, up in the Valley (Willamette Valley) by Silverton - closed down the Silver Falls State Park with trees down and such. Power out to tens of thousands all over Portland & Salem areas.

Were you there during the storm in 96? I was in the metro area, lost 12 trees due to satuation in the soil, that is what the inland danger usually is. Trees on roofs1

[mdvaden]

Originally Posted by PNW-type-gal

It's not even a once-a-year thing. The big storms they are comparing this one to are the 1962 and 1995 storms.

That said, there is usually a wind storm of sorts a couple times a winter. By "wind storm" I mean small branches down, pine cone nibs and needles everywhere, trash cans knocked over and the occasional power outage. More annoying in clean-up than actually damaging.

Max that I can remember in one year was two, but neither this big.

They may try and compare this one to 1962, but that's like comparing a Dodge Dakota pickup to a Dodge Ram

WIKIPEDIA: Columbus Day Storm

Max wind gusts for the 1962 storm were estimated near 179 miles per hour at one part of the Oregon Coast, and recorded at 145 miles per hour.

Wind gust in Corvallis area exceeded 125 mph and exceeded 115 mph in Portland.

Really, the 1962 storm isn't even close to this one for wind. May have moved by quicker and had different rainfall.

But the damage this week is probably a fraction of the 1962 damage.

Even the "Perfect Storm" was less powerful.

[tablemtn]

I spent part of today clearing debris from the driveway, and cleaning off the roof. There wasn't much damage otherwise, but one very large branch broke off during a gust and got carried completely across the yard. Fortunately it didn't hit anything but the ground, but it was a BIG branch - I actually held the thing up while standing on a scale, and it added 70 pounds to my weight. That must have been one hell of a gust to carry such a thing so far.

[RockyMtnr]

We suffered 125+ at Lincoln City. All highways closed by either flooding or treefall. Open now. Power out about 40 hours - maybe a few areas still out. Some traffic-lights working. Still no phone service at our place though other parts of town have it. Verizon turned out to be the loser. To my knowledge, no fatalities. Almost blew our flagpole out of the ground. Got it straightened out today. Get to call in the tree-cutters tomorrow ... if the phones work.

[mdvaden]

Originally Posted by RockyMtnr

We suffered 125+ at Lincoln City. All highways closed by either flooding or treefall. Open now. Power out about 40 hours - maybe a few areas still out. Some traffic-lights working. Still no phone service at our place though other parts of town have it. Verizon turned out to be the loser. To my knowledge, no fatalities. Almost blew our flagpole out of the ground. Got it straightened out today. Get to call in the tree-cutters tomorrow ... if the phones work.

Like in that link I posted above to the Wiki article on the 62 storm - can you imagine that the 1962 storm was about 40% more powerful than this one?

This storms winds and add more than a 1/3 of that on top.

I was only 4 in the "big one".

But I do remember driving home, and how hard it was to stand up. And my dads car wiggling in the road as he tried to get home. A big weeping willow fell on our roof in that one.