1962 Columbus Day Storm

On Monday 12 October 1962, the West Coast of Canada and the Pacific Northwest Coast of the United States were struck by the most destructive windstorm in Oregon history. The National Weather Service calls it the benchmark of extratropical wind storms, among the region's most intense since the 9 January 1880 Great Gale.

The storm was the remnant of Typhoon Freda, regaining strength where cool Gulf of Alaska air met warm, moist tropical air, then funnelling between the Coast Range and Cascades up the Willamette Valley — the only major October windstorm on record in the Pacific Northwest. Central pressure fell to at least 960 millibars, equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane (Oregon State University, quoting the Oregon Climate Service).

Wind extremes were extraordinary: Cape Blanco recorded 145+ mph before its anemometer was destroyed; Corvallis logged 127 mph before the operator fled, leaving a note reading only "abandoned station"; Mount Hebo reached 130 mph, Portland's Morrison Street Bridge 116 mph and Renton, Washington 100 mph. NWS Medford rates it a 1-in-100 to 1-in-1,000-year windstorm.

More than 50,000 Oregon homes were seriously damaged, nearly 100 destroyed; hundreds of thousands lost power for up to three weeks. Entire fruit and nut orchards were destroyed and livestock killed as barns collapsed, while over 11 billion board feet of timber blew down in less than 12 hours (Oregon Emergency Management) — exceeding the states' combined annual timber harvest. Oregon losses were placed at $175–200 million in 1962 dollars, roughly $1.4 billion in today's dollars (Oregon State University, 2012 conversion).

Casualty figures disagree by scope: Oregon official sources cite 38 fatalities in the state, while Oregon State University's climate-service account attributes up to 46 deaths to the storm as a whole. Washington and British Columbia sub-totals appear only in media accounts and are omitted here.

Sources & references

• NWS Aberdeen - This Day in Weather History: October 12
• NWS Medford - The Crater Chronicle, Fall 2022 (PDF)
• Oregon OEM - Emergency Operations Plan, Severe Weather Annex (PDF)
• City of Portland - Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan, Severe Weather annex
• Oregon State University Newsroom - Fifty years later: Legacy of Columbus Day storm still stands