Infrared satellite image provided by the US Naval Research Labortory

Pacific Northwest windstorms, sometimes colloquially known as Big Blows, are

extratropical cyclone Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are low-pressure areas which, along with the anticyclones of high-pressure areas, drive the weather over much of the Earth. Extratropical cyclones are capable of ...

s which form in the

Pacific 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 continen ...

basin, and affect land areas in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though ...

of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. They form as cyclonic windstorms associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure that track across the North Pacific Ocean towards western North America. Deep low pressure areas are relatively common over the North Pacific. They are most common in the winter months. On average, the month when most windstorms form is November or December. The closest analogue to these storms are

European windstorm European windstorms are powerful extratropical cyclones which form as cyclonic windstorms associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure. They can occur throughout the year, but are most frequent between October and March, with peak intensit ...

s, which develop over the eastern portion of the North

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

as opposed to the North Pacific.

Nor'easter A nor'easter (also northeaster; see below), or an East Coast low is a synoptic-scale extratropical cyclone in the western North Atlantic Ocean. The name derives from the direction of the winds that blow from the northeast. The original use o ...

s, a similar class of extratropical cyclones, commonly affect the east coast of North America. While the storms on the East Coast are named "nor'easters", the Pacific Northwest windstorms are not called "nor'westers" because the cyclones' primary winds can blow from any direction, while the primary winds in nor'easters usually blow from the northeast.

Categories and frequency

Notable Pacific Northwest windstorms

* 1880:

Great Gale of 1880 The Great Gale of 1880 was an intense extratropical cyclone (possibly deeper than 955 millibars (mb) or 28.20") that impacted the Northwest United States on January 9, 1880. Gusts of an estimated 138 miles per hour hit the northwest coast. Bu ...

* 1921: January 29, the

Great Olympic Blowdown The Great Olympic Blowdown, also called the Big Blow, was a compact, intense windstorm that struck the coast of Washington on January 29, 1921. The storm is remembered for the massive number of trees destroyed. At the time, it was the greatest loss ...

. * 1962: Columbus Day Storm began life as tropical storm Typhoon Frieda/Freda. * 1979: February 13 windstorm leads to the catastrophic failure of the

Hood Canal Bridge The Hood Canal Bridge (officially William A. Bugge Bridge) is a floating bridge in the northwest United States, located in western Washington. It carries State Route 104 across Hood Canal of Puget Sound and connects the Olympic and Kitsap P ...

. * 1981: Friday the 13th Windstorms, November 13–15 * 1990: November 22–24,

Mercer island Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue to it ...

bridge sinking Washington state * 1993: Inauguration Day windstorm, January 20. Claimed five lives, 750,000 homes and businesses without power with total damage in western Washington of $130 million. * 1995: December 11–12 * 2000: January 16, 2000 * 2002:

South Valley Surprise of 2002 The South Valley Surprise of 2002 was a Pacific Northwest windstorm that affected the U.S. states of Oregon, Washington (state), Washington, California, Nevada, and Idaho on February 7, 2002. Overview The storm underwent Rapid intensificatio ...

* 2006: The Hannukah Eve windstorm caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, left over 1.8 million residences and businesses without power, and killed eighteen. Most deaths were caused by carbon monoxide poisoning in the days following the storm because of improper use of barbecue cookers and generators indoors. * 2007:

Great Coastal Gale of 2007 The Great Coastal Storm of 2007 was a series of three powerful Pacific storms that affected the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia between December 1, 2007 and December 4, 2007. The storms on Dece ...

* 2012: November 19 * 2013: Remnants of Typhoon Pabuk on September 28-29, 2013 caused heavy rain in Portland, Oregon had the wettest September ever on record. The moisture from the

Pineapple Express Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent large-scale flow of warm moist air, and the associated heavy precipitation both in the waters immediately northeast of the Hawaii ...

coming from Hawaii. * 2014: December 11: Brought the strongest recorded wind gust to Portland since 1995, of 59 MPH * 2015: August 29–30 windstorm knocking out power to 710,000 customers in British Columbia's

Lower Mainland The Lower Mainland is a geographic and cultural region of the mainland coast of British Columbia that generally comprises the regional districts of Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley. Home to approximately 3.05million people as of the 2021 Canadia ...

region. Several municipalities in

Metro Vancouver The Metro Vancouver Regional District (MVRD), or simply Metro Vancouver, is a Canadian political subdivision and corporate entity representing the metropolitan area of Greater Vancouver, designated by provincial legislation as one of the 28 ...

were without power for three days; at the time it was the largest outage in

BC Hydro The British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority, operating as BC Hydro, is a Canadian electric utility in the province of British Columbia. It is the main electricity distributor, serving more than 4 million customers in most areas, with the excep ...

's recorded history. * 2015, December 21 * 2016: March 9 * 2016: Ides of October storm, Typhoon Sondga transitioned into an extratropical storm as it crossed the North Pacific and approached the west coast of North America. Originally, expected to be a historic windstorm to make a direct hit on Washington State, the worst of the storm ended up staying offshore. Despite this, coastal regions reported winds as high as 100 mph and an EF-2 tornado touched down in Manzanita. * 2018: December 20, as winds approached (and occasionally exceeded) 100 km/h, trees came down, high seas cancelled ferries and over 750,000 customers in British Columbia lost power; causing the largest outage in BC Hydro's recorded history. One man needed to be rescued by helicopter from the damaged White Rock Pier and a woman was killed in Duncan after being struck by a tree. * 2021:

October 2021 Northeast Pacific bomb cyclone An extremely powerful extratropical bomb cyclone began in late October 2021 in the Northeast Pacific and struck the Western United States and Western Canada. The storm was the third and the most powerful cyclone in a series of powerful storms tha ...

Powerful storm system that underwent rapid

bombogenesis Explosive cyclogenesis (also referred to as a weather bomb, meteorological bomb, explosive development, bomb cyclone, or bombogenesis) is the rapid deepening of an extratropical cyclonic low-pressure area. The change in pressure needed to class ...

with air pressure bottoming out at 942

hPa HPA may refer to: Organizations * Harry Potter Alliance, a charity * Halifax Port Authority, Canada * Hamburg Port Authority, Germany * Hawaii Preparatory Academy, a school in Hawaii, US * Health Protection Agency, UK * Heerespersonalamt, the Ger ...

. Heavy rain and snow along with strong winds were reported.

References

External links

Wolf Read: The Storm King- Some Historical Weather Events in the Pacific NorthwestKCTS9 Science Cafe: Great Windstorms of the Pacific Northwest with Dr. Cliff Mass
{{Extratropical cyclones Extratropical cyclones Natural disasters in Oregon Natural disasters in Washington (state) Weather events in the United States Weather events in Canada

Categories and frequency

Notable Pacific Northwest windstorms

See also

References

External links