Today is the anniversary of the big Alaskan earthquake back in 1964. It's been 45 years since a 9.2 quake hit just offshore the southern Alaska coastline. That sent a tsunami across the Pacific. I remember my parents saying the lights were swinging in their church in Hillsboro that night, so apparently it was felt even here. Then 4 hours later the tsunami arrived along the Oregon Coast, killing 5 on our beaches and in coastal towns.
I've been a bit negligent posting this week, but the weather has been really slow. Of course I could Twitter the weather instead…haha! Actually if I hear that name again I'm going to vomit. I can't stand fads and I don't really care what others are doing in their private lives. Although maybe you are interested in mine? Maybe I should do that instead of blog. It's quite possible I'm just getting old and cranky…but remember Atkins diet??? Everyone seemed to be doing that and then it suddenly disappeared.
On to the weather…a nice deepening low pressure moves through Washington tomorrow. It's nice to see a deepening low move right past us; that hasn't happened much this winter. So we get a warm front in the morning, then a sharp cold front closer to sunset. The cold front should be a good rainmaker…it's definitely going to be an indoor day with the rain and wind combined. Actually a bit stormy by late March standards. Much calmer Sunday and then one dry day Monday. The cool and wet pattern will continue into the first week of April though…Mark Nelsen
FOX 12 Weather Blog 
Check out Space weather.com for an animation of the Redoubt volcano ash cloud. It looks like it went over the Pac NW.
Taking bets on when the 3 amigos will wishcasting snow this week.
Fifty two degrees here and partly sunny.
Ahh yes, you know summer is coming when the forecast concern trends towards if the forecasted highs are correct or not… 🙂
I’m beginning to wonder if our daytime highs are going to end up lower than forecast today. Only 44 at noon at the Hillsboro airport and a lot of clouds around at least for the moment. Still, there is a lot of daylight left at this point for daytime heating or perhaps the warm front off the coast will pull some warm air up into the area.
Great post about the Long Creek tornado. I have a co-worker who has a house (cabin?) there, so I passed the clip along to him. Who knew?
Spring is starting to spring in the gorge… almost. Took the family camping at memaloose St. park thursday thru Sunday. Yes we had a good time, we also got rained on, winded on, sunshined on and all most snowed on. Thats Oregon for you. Widow flowers are in bloom, pic here:
http://mitch.zenfolio.com/p719792605
Fellow bloggers
Spent Sunday up at TL working in their mini blizzard–33 in. of new since Sat. afternoon–winds at the lodge to 32mph and many snow tornados w/difting and white out conditions everywhere–temp. 18 degrees yesterday at 8 AM and 13 this morning–it is still winter up there folks!
I was up out of bed to get a glass of water and I thought I would check on the temp.
27.9F .. Brrrrrrrr….
34.0F and clear.
I hear you icecold…Not to be political or anything…currently I’m sitting at 33 with clear skies.
Going back to Mark’s post……
Global Warming is a lot like the Atkins Diet. It will die out too. That what happens to fads and things that really are not true.
Yep Cap….an interesting (and worthwhile) read.
Sadly, it’s only one of MANY topics the MSM fails to cover (or cover very inaccurately)…….
Just a passing-thought, what does summer feel like?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/5067351/Rise-of-sea-levels-is-the-greatest-lie-ever-told.html
A viewpoint that deserves to be heard.. and won’t be given a chance by our wonderful MSM.
I was thinking that Mark! For such a low elevation, I would say Corbett has some of the strongest winds around. Most places that see that high of winds are mountain peaks and passes.
Tyler,
So since Corbett is getting so far east, couldn’t we “wrap around” the world and be west of I-205 too?
I can remember several “small” twisters that have hit Clark County in the past…Of course the big one…April of ’72…That one formed over the north shore of the Columbia river, traveled across Evergreen highway, passed just to the east of “Tower mall”, down the hill just west of Andreson road, over Peter S Ogden school, across 4th plain/72nd ave intersection (Waremart/Sunrise bowling alley), continuing just west of the present day Vancouver mall, then hop-scotched thru a residential area around NE 54th street, then dissapated over the Hockinson area. I witnessed a couple of small tornados, one just east of Camas high school in Camas and one just north of the Clark County fairgrounds (both in the early 80’s)…all did very minor damage (mostly trees)…I remember the one that Tyler referred to (I think this was the one, May of ’97) actually generated a tornado warning when it supposedly was over I-205…..
very odd how the wind has been acting today. Must be “swirling” around in the little bowl we are in. Cannot remember how long it has been since the wind seemed to be coming from the S…or even ESE
Nearly always out of the N or the W.
Across from work there is a row of 30′ firs & all the branches were being hit by E or S winds all afternoon. Odd circumstance for here. Hmmmmm……….
Mainly clear skies, especially west of 205. The clouds are really banking up against the Cascades. The wind has picked up as well, mainly west of 205. Hillsboro has seen 23 mph winds, 28 at Scappose but a mere 20 mph at Troutdale.
It’s going to be a cold night!
See newspapers in the olden days were a LOT better then todays. They actually went to check their facts and not just quote from higher sources.
If somebody burgarlized Fox 12 in Portland they would just do some quotes on it and not reallly interview anybody in a real fast pace while in the olden days they’ll check things out to make sure there even was a burglary first.
what i love is the post from 1894…
.
gotta love how they describe things. that was real reporting/writing. very descriptive and unbiased. fun to read.
now its just quotes from experts and such
November 12, 1991 had several tornadoes in the metro area, including one in Troutdale I believe.
And tyler, the 1972 Vancouver tornado traveled for 9+ miles and ended up going well to the east of present day I-205. I would know because it did damage within 1/2 mile of my current location in Brush Prairie.
I suspect there are many small tornadoes that have not made that list either because of lack of damage or witnesses.
I can think of three that I know of. There was a small one in the Orenco area in the (30’s?) that was mentioned in one of the weather books by either George Miller or George Taylor I think. There was one on the ground at the intersection of highways 26 and 6 out near banks in the spring of 1984. I’m guessing around the same time as the McMinnville tornado that year. And there was one on Wallowa Lake in the late 90’s or 2000 that picked up a person who was paragliding behind a boat on the lake, snapped the rope and then deposited them (safely!) on the moraine on the east side of the lake.
Vancouver does seem to be in a good area for tornado formation being on the lee side of the West Hills when there is SW flow. I suspect that similar forces are at work in the McMinnville / Yamhill area with regard to the Coast Range and that is why so many have been reported out there. The AMS meeting regarding the Vancouver tornado last fall had some really good info on these forces.
Rob, I was heading into the Rose Garden at about 6:00pm yesterday and the wind was very strong at the time with driving rain.
gotta love montana march snow and winds=P
We had 3 hail showers this morning between 9-11 AM. Nice sun breaks out there now with some pretty decent vertical motion to the CU. Thermodynamic profiles though unfortunately do not indicate any instability present.
Tyler? I’m not sure what you’re getting at, or why it seems you are questioning the validity of my reports or comments. I do remember a small tornado hit Troutdale before caused minor damage. Hmmm….
The small tornado of May 31st, 1997 does not make that list. It did only minimal damage as it struck about 1.5 miles SE of my station. I have pictures of the damage (all EF-0) including downed fences, trees and sheds. There was video of this debris spinning in the air.
…Thanks, Sarah for that link…just goes to show,,,,could be anywhere….gotta like this description:
June 8, 1894, near Long Creek in Grant County
The following is a reprint from the Long Creek Eagle newspaper of June 8, 1894:
“Last Sunday morning, the rays of the morning sun pierced every nook of the valley, but was soon obscured from sight, and as the hour of high twelve drew nearer, the air seem to become oppressive. About eleven o’clock a distant thunder was heard and before one half hour had elapsed the entire heavens was a mass of angry clouds floating with great velocity in all directions, and the distant peals of thunder had been replaced by a noise resembling the cannonading of armies in a deadly conflict. Clouds flew hither and thither, thicker and faster, apparently stampeding in every direction. With a roar and a rumble which was no less than the effect of a severe wind storm in the forest surrounding Fox Valley, two angry looking clouds met on the summit of the mountain three miles south of Long Creek and the work of destruction began in all its fury, taking its course almost due north. A heavy growth of timber on the mountainside one-half mile in width fell before it as readily as grain before a sickle, and in but very few seconds, the entire eastern portion of Long Creek was at its mercy. Dwellings, barns, and store buildings were lifted into the air as if but the weight of a feather, and torn to atoms, portions of which was carried for miles distant. For a moment the air was a thickened mass of missiles, flying in every direction.
Here is a more comprehensive history of tornadoes in Oregon: http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/pqr/paststorms/tornado.php
Larry…since 1972. I know of 3 tornadoes that have hit Vancouver and 0 that have hit Portland. I know there have been a few funnels in the valley and along the coast too.
…how many years are included in that east of west of 205 stat?….just curious …
I agree about the clouds Rob….I watched some very dark low clouds that moved impressively fast out here yesterday. The winds picked up more than I was expecting as well.
I must live in the magical part of Gresham where we never lose power. Our power flickered a tiny bit yesterday, but in the two and a half years my husband and I have lived here, we’ve never lost power. We lost power several times when we lived out in Hillsboro.
Sunday am…Showers,some with a dash of hail, at the coast near Depoe Bay, Oregon…plus a few sun breaks too.
Number of tornadoes west of 205=3
Number of tornadoes east of 205=0
Enough said.
Tyler, it could indicate that, or it could also indicate that localized areas experiences more extreme conditions than others. As I said the low level cloud structure moving over my house was very impressive. It wasn’t rotating, but there was definitely multi-directional movement not to mention the speed to which they were moving. This area moved directly over Gresham. My Father noticed the clouds to and commented he’d never seen them moving that fast before.
Jeff,
Go here & up at the top type your zip code.
http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radblast.asp?zoommode=pan&prevzoom=zoom&num=6&frame=0&delay=15&scale=1.000&noclutter=0&ID=RTX&type=N0R&showstorms=99&lat=45.86175537&lon=-123.20006561&label=Vernonia,%20OR&map.x=400&map.y=240&scale=1.000¢erx=400¢ery=240&showlabels=1&rainsnow=1&lightning=1&lerror=20&num_stns_min=2&num_stns_max=9999&avg_off=9999&smooth=0
Hope this helps!
Another late winter winter storm striking the northern tier of the country (the one that past over our area last night)…
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/~ovens/loops/wxloop.cgi?ir4km+12
Cold 40.3F…light west wind….
Snowing big, fat flakes here this morning… no sticking – which is a good thing since the robins are all over the place looking for worms… 38 degrees
More power outages in Gresham with the same wind speeds everywhere just indicates weaker trees or poorly maintained lines, poles and trees.
I miss this in Pullman…wild weather at all times
http://www.dailyevergreen.com/mallcam
Had a late night and snow was definately mixed in going over 26 through the hills around 2:00 am; then driving I-5 through Tualatin and I-205 to Oregon City, more snow mixed. FUn to see but I am ready for better golfing weather!
I heard there were 10,000 to 15,000 power outages as the squall line moved through yesterday evening. Mainly out in Gresham. Definitely substantiates my report from my “chase” ….
Go Blazers!
Some new (and very cool) pictures of Mt. Redoubt eruptions over the past couple of days….
http://www.avo.alaska.edu/volcanoes/volcact.php?volcname=Redoubt&page=images&eruptionid=610
……..and going and going and going and going….
http://www.ktuu.com/Global/story.asp?S=10088944