1996 Pacific Northwest Floods
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1996 Pacific Northwest Floods
The 1996 Pacific Northwest floods were a series of floods in Washington, Oregon, and the Idaho Panhandle in the United States. Large portions of the Columbia River and Puget Sound watersheds were impacted, including the Portland, Yakima, and the Palouse region. The flood was largely caused by warm temperatures and heavy rain falling on significant snowpack and caused an estimated $800 million in damage (1996 value). Meteorological synopsis The winter of 1995–96 started with near to below average snowpack for much of the affected region with ski resorts opening later than usual. The weather pattern changed a few weeks later, producing significant snowfall in lowland areas. Moscow, Idaho recorded of snow in ten days during the second half of January. Prolonged cold settled in following the heavy snow, causing the ground to freeze throughout much of the Columbia Basin and surrounding valleys. In places where the ground wasn't frozen, it was generally saturated with water. ...
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Willamette Valley
The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, the Oregon Coast Range to the west, and the Calapooya Mountains to the south. The valley is synonymous with the cultural and political heart of Oregon and is home to approximately 70 percent of its population including the five largest cities in the state: Portland, Eugene, Salem, Gresham, and Hillsboro. The valley's numerous waterways, particularly the Willamette River, are vital to the economy of Oregon, as they continuously deposit highly fertile alluvial soils across its broad, flat plain. A massively productive agricultural area, the valley was widely publicized in the 1820s as a "promised land of flowing milk and honey." Throughout the 19th century, it was the destination of choice for the oxen-drawn wagon trains of emigr ...
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Aleutian Low
The Aleutian Low is a semi-permanent low-pressure system located near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea during the Northern Hemisphere winter. It is a climatic feature centered near the Aleutian Islands measured based on mean sea-level pressure. It is one of the largest atmospheric circulation patterns in the Northern Hemisphere and represents one of the "main centers of action in atmospheric circulation." Classification The Aleutian Low is characterized by heavily influencing the path and strength of cyclones. Extratropical cyclones which form in the sub-polar latitudes in the North Pacific typically slow down and reach maximum intensity in the area of the Aleutian Low. Tropical cyclones that form in the tropical and equatorial regions of the Pacific can veer northward and get caught in the Aleutian Low. This is usually seen in the later summer months. Both the November 2011 Bering Sea cyclone and the November 2014 Bering Sea cyclone were post-tropical cyclones that had di ...
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Oregon City, Oregon
) , image_skyline = McLoughlin House.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption = The McLoughlin House, est. 1845 , image_flag = , image_seal = Oregon City seal.png , image_map = Clackamas_County_Oregon_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Oregon_City_Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in Oregon , image_map1 = , mapsize1 = , map_caption1 = , pushpin_map = Oregon#USA , pushpin_map_alt = , pushpin_map_caption = , pushpin_label = Oregon City , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_type2 = County , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_name1 = Oregon , subdivision_name2 = Clackamas , government_type = , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name ...
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Oregon State University
Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering college in the nation for 2022. Undergraduate enrollment for all colleges combined averages close to 32,000, making it the state's largest university. Out-of-state students make up over one-quarter of undergraduates and an additional 5,500 students are engaged in graduate coursework through the university. Since its founding, over 272,000 students have graduated from OSU. It is classified among "Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". Chartered as a land-grant university initially, OSU became one of the four inaugural members of the Sea Grant in 1971. It joined the Space Grant and Sun Grant research consortia in 1991 and 2003, respectively, making it the first public university and one of just four in total to attain memb ...
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Willamette River
The Willamette River ( ) is a major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 to 15 percent of the Columbia's flow. The Willamette's main stem is long, lying entirely in northwestern Oregon in the United States. Flowing northward between the Oregon Coast Range and the Cascade Range, the river and its tributaries form the Willamette Valley, a basin that contains two-thirds of Oregon's population, including the state capital, Salem, and the state's largest city, Portland, which surrounds the Willamette's mouth at the Columbia. Originally created by plate tectonics about 35 million years ago and subsequently altered by volcanism and erosion, the river's drainage basin was significantly modified by the Missoula Floods at the end of the most recent ice age. Humans began living in the watershed over 10,000 years ago. There were once many tribal villages along the lower river and in the area around its mouth on the Columbia. Indigenous peoples lived throughout ...
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Pacific Northwest Flood Of 1996 (24822181235)
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continents of Asia and Oceania in the west and the Americas in the east. At in area (as defined with a southern Antarctic border), this largest division of the World Ocean—and, in turn, the hydrosphere—covers about 46% of Earth's water surface and about 32% of its total surface area, larger than Earth's entire land area combined .Pacific Ocean
. '' Britannica Concise.'' 2008: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The centers of both the

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Christmas Flood Of 1964
The Christmas flood of 1964 was a major flood in the United States' Pacific Northwest and some of Northern California between December 18, 1964, and January 7, 1965, spanning the Christmas holiday. Considered a 100-year flood, it was the worst flood in recorded history on nearly every major stream and river in coastal Northern California and one of the worst to affect the Willamette River in Oregon. It also affected parts of southwest Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. In Oregon, 17 or 18 people died as a result of the disaster, and it caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage. The flooding on the Willamette covered . The National Weather Service rated the flood as the fifth most destructive weather event in Oregon in the 20th century. Note: Surpassed only by the Heppner Flood of 1903, the Vanport Flood of 1948, the Columbus Day Storm of 1962, and the Tillamook Burn of 1933, 1939, 1945, and 1951. California Governor Pat Brown was quoted as saying that a flood o ...
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Colfax, Washington
Colfax is the county seat of Whitman County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,805 at the 2010 census. The population is estimated at 2,911 per the State of Washington Office of Financial Management in 2018 making Colfax the second largest city in Whitman County behind Pullman. It is situated amidst wheat-covered hills in a valley at the confluence of the north and south forks of the Palouse River. U.S. Route 195, which forms the town's main street, intersects with State Route 26 at the north end of town; in the past, Colfax also lay at the junction of three major railway lines. It was named after Schuyler Colfax, the vice president from 1869–73. History Palouse Indians were the first known human inhabitants of the Colfax area. White settlers arrived in the summer of 1870, and soon built a sawmill. A flour mill and other businesses followed, and Colfax soon grew into a prosperous town. Originally, pioneer citizen James Perkins called the settlement "Bellevi ...
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Palouse River
The Palouse River is a tributary of the Snake River in Washington (state), Washington and Idaho, in the Northwestern United States, northwest United States. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 3, 2011 southwestwards, primarily through the Palouse region of southeastern Washington. It is part of the Columbia River Drainage Basin, Columbia River Basin, as the Snake River is a tributary of the Columbia River. Its canyon was carved out by a fork in the catastrophic Missoula Floods of the previous ice age, which spilled over the northern Columbia Plateau and flowed into the Snake River, eroding the river's present course in a few thousand years. Course The Palouse River flows from North Central Idaho, northern Idaho into southeast Washington through the Palouse region, named for the river. The river originates in Idaho in northeastern Latah County, Idaho, Latah County, in the Hoodoo Mountains in ...
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The Kitsap Sun
The ''Kitsap Sun'' is a daily newspaper published in Bremerton, Washington, United States. It covers general news and serves Kitsap, Jefferson, and Mason counties on the west side of Puget Sound. It has a circulation of about 30,000 while reaching over 100,000 adult readers seven days a week. Publication of The ''Sun'' began in 1935 as the ''Bremerton Sun'' to compete with the ''Seattle Star'' directly across Puget Sound. Four years later, the circulation of the ''Sun'' surpassed that of its competitor. In 1940, John P. Scripps Newspaper Group acquired the newspaper. In June 1984, it formally changed names from the ''Bremerton Sun'' to ''The Sun''. It was merged with the E. W. Scripps Company in 1986 and began publishing a Sunday morning edition in 1991. On May 22, 2005, the newspaper was renamed the ''Kitsap Sun'' to reflect the regional nature of its coverage. The company spun off its newspaper assets into Journal Media Group in April 2015. The University of Washington Lib ...
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Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Washington state. Vancouver is the county seat of Clark County and forms part of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area, the 25th-largest metropolitan area in the United States. Originally established in 1825 around Fort Vancouver, a fur-trading outpost, the city is located on the Washington–Oregon border along the Columbia River, directly north of Portland, and is considered a suburb of the city along with its surrounding areas. History The Vancouver area was inhabited by several Native American tribes, most recently the Chinook and Klickitat nations, with permanent settlements of timber longhouses. The Chinookan and Klickitat names for the area were reportedly ''Skit-so-to-ho'' and ''Ala-si-kas,'' respectively, meaning "land of the ...
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1948 Columbia River Flood
The 1948 Columbia River flood (or Vanport Flood) was a regional flood that occurred in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and Canada. Large portions of the Columbia River watershed where impacted, including the Portland area, Eastern Washington, northeastern Oregon, Idaho Panhandle, northwestern Montana, and southeastern British Columbia. A publication of the U.S. Geological Survey in 1949 stated property damage reached $102.7 million (1949 value), 250,000 acres of farmland were flooded, 20,000 acres of land were damaged or destroyed, and at least 16 died in the flood (the phrasing suggests these were deaths from the Vanport community); estimates for total deaths from the flood go as high as 102. Among the damage was the complete destruction of Vanport, in the Portland metropolitan area, which was the second largest city in Oregon at the time. The flood was largely caused by rapid melting of above-average snowpack by heavy precipitation and warm temperatures. It remains t ...
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