Columbus Day storm of 1962

On the morning of September 28, a tropical disturbance formed south of Eniwetok Atoll. After moving westward and making a large bend around the island, the new system slowly gained strength, and on the morning of October 3, the system became a tropical storm about from Wake Island, over the central Pacific Ocean. Now named Freda, the system rapidly intensified as it proceeded northeastward over the open Pacific waters. On that afternoon, Freda intensified into a typhoon, with 1-minute sustained winds of . On October 4, the typhoon quickly intensified, reaching its peak of on the next day, with a minimum central pressure of , making the storm the equivalent of a Category 3 typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson scale. After stabilizing to the north, Freda maintained its strength through the Pacific, before beginning to weaken slowly on October 6. Making a turn to the northeast, Freda maintained typhoon-status winds for several more days, before weakening into a tropical storm on October 9, as it started experiencing the effects of cold air. Moving northeastward at a steady rate of , the storm slowly underwent an extratropical transition, becoming extratropical operationally on the morning of October 10, still with winds of . The extratropical low redeveloped intensely off the coast of Northern California, due to favorable upper-level conditions, producing record rainfall across the San Francisco Bay Area that delayed some games in the 1962 World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees. The low moved northeastward, and then hooked straight north, as it neared southwest Oregon. The storm then raced nearly northward at an average speed of , with the center situated just off the Pacific Coast. There was little central pressure change until the cyclone passed the latitude of Astoria, Oregon, at which time the low began to degrade. On October 13, the center passed over Tatoosh Island, Washington, before making landfall on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where it weakened rapidly. The cyclone then curved northwestward, before turning back eastward and moving into Canada. As the cyclone moved through Canada, another cyclone formed on its southern periphery, which absorbed the original cyclone by October 17. The extratropical cyclone deepened to a minimum central pressure of at least , and perhaps as low as , a pressure which would be equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale (SSHS). Since the system was an extratropical cyclone, its wind field was neither as compact nor as strong as a tropical cyclone, though its wind field was significantly larger. All-time record-low land-based pressures (up to 1962) included at Astoria, at Hoquiam, Washington, and at North Bend, Oregon. The Astoria and Hoquiam records were broken by a major storm on December 12, 1995 (which measured at Astoria); however, this event did not generate winds as intense as the Columbus Day Storm of 1962. ==Wind speed highlights==

Radar Station in the Willapa Hills of southwest Washington, a wind gust of was observed. About to the north, at Portland, Oregon's major metropolitan area, measured wind gusts reached at the Morrison Street Bridge in downtown Portland. A peak gust of was recorded at Pearson Field in Vancouver, Washington, around 10 miles north of downtown Portland. Many anemometers, official and unofficial, within the heavily stricken area of northwestern Oregon and southwest Washington were damaged or destroyed before winds attained maximum velocity. For example, the wind gauge atop the downtown Portland studios of KGW radio and TV recorded two gusts of , just before flying debris knocked the gauge off-line shortly after 5 p.m. For the Willamette Valley, the lowest peak gust officially recorded was at Eugene. This value, however, is higher than the maximum peak gust generated by any other Willamette Valley windstorm in the 1948–2010 period. In the interior of western Washington, officially measured wind gusts included at Olympia, at McChord Air Force Base, at Renton at and at Bellingham. In the city of Seattle, a peak wind speed of was recorded; this suggests gusts of at least . Damaging winds reached as far inland as Spokane. Wind gusts of , the National Weather Service minimum for "High Wind Criteria," or higher were reported from San Francisco, to Vancouver, British Columbia. ==Impact==

At least 46 fatalities were attributed to this storm, more than for any other Pacific Northwest weather event. Injuries went into the hundreds. In terms of natural disaster-related fatalities for the 20th century, only Oregon's Heppner Flood of 1903 (247 deaths), Washington's Wellington avalanche of 1910 (96 deaths), the Great Fire of 1910 (87 deaths), and Eruption of Mount St. Helens of 1980 (57 deaths) caused more. For Pacific Northwest windstorms in the 20th century, the runner up was the infamous October 21, 1934, gale, which caused 22 fatalities, mostly in Washington. In less than 12 hours, more than of timber was blown down in northern California, Oregon and Washington combined; some estimates put it at . This exceeded the annual timber harvest for Oregon and Washington at the time. This value is above any blowdown measured for East Coast storms, including hurricanes; even the often-cited 1938 New England hurricane, which toppled , falls short by nearly an order of magnitude. Estimates put the dollar damage at approximately $230 million to $280 million for California, Oregon, and Washington combined. Those figures in 1962 US dollars translate to $2.5 to $3 billion in 2025 US dollars. Oregon's share exceeded $200 million in 1962 US dollars. California In Central and Northern California, all-time record rains associated with the atmospheric river along the cold front caused major flooding and mudslides, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Oakland set an all time calendar day record with of rain on the 13th, as did Sacramento with . More than of rainfall were recorded in the Bay area. Heavy rain forced Game 6 of the 1962 World Series at San Francisco's Candlestick Park to be postponed from its originally scheduled date of October 11 to Monday, October 15. Oregon In the Willamette Valley, it is said the undamaged home was the exception. Livestock suffered greatly due to the barn failures: the animals were crushed under the weight of the collapsed structures, a story that was repeated many times throughout the afflicted region. At the north end of the Valley, two high voltage transmission towers were toppled. Radio and TV broadcasting were affected in the Portland area. KGW-TV lost its tower at Skyline and replaced the temporary tower with a new one on January 28, 1963. KOIN radio lost one of two AM towers at Sylvan. KPOJ-AM/-FM lost much of its transmitting equipment, plus one of two towers was left partially standing at Mount Scott. KPOJ-FM was so badly damaged it wouldn't return to the air until February 9, 1963. KWJJ-AM lost one of its towers and a portion of its transmitter building at Smith Lake. KISN-AM also lost a tower at Smith Lake. Seven-month-old TV station KATU did not receive any damage at its Livingston Mountain site, north of Camas, Washington. However, KATU didn't have a generator and power was cut off. The heavy-duty design of the radio towers on Portland's West Hills today, with extensive and robust guy cables, is a direct result of the lessons learned from the 1962 catastrophe. For northwest Oregon, the entire power distribution system had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Some locations did not have power restored for several weeks. an event recorded by student photographer Wes Luchau in the most prominent picture-symbol of the storm. East of Salem, the wind destroyed a historic barn that served as a clandestine meeting place by pro-slavery Democratic members of the state Legislature in 1860. The Oregon State Beavers–Washington Huskies college football game went on as scheduled Saturday, October 13 in Portland, in a heavily damaged Multnomah Stadium. Much of the roof was damaged and seats damaged by falling debris were replaced by portable chairs. Crews cleared debris from the grandstand and playing field right up to kickoff. The Huskies came from behind to beat the Beavers 14–13, despite a strong performance by quarterback Terry Baker, who would win the Heisman Trophy later that year. Washington The storm caused 9 fatalities in Washington, some from falling trees or downed power lines. The Willapa Hills and southern portion of the Olympic Peninsula incurred the worst damage in the state, losing entire stands of trees. The Department of Commerce estimated damage in six western counties at more than $20 million. British Columbia The storm weakened as it traveled north into British Columbia, with peak gusts measured at . Five people in British Columbia were killed in the storm, and the area suffered $80 million in damages. Stanley Park lost 3,000 trees. A Victoria resident described it as "Just general devastation everywhere you went. There were trees breaking off and flying across the roads. Wind was just blowing the rain horizontal and trees were weaving all over the place. You didn't know if you were going to get hit or not." At Victoria airport, a Martin Mars waterbomber ("Caroline Mars") was hurled and irreparably damaged. ==See also==