December, Columbus Day Storms Big, But In Different Ways

ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — December’s blast of coastal floods and windstorms was big.

But how big?

Wolf Read is a consulting meteorologist for the Oregon Climate Service.

He concludes it was not as strong as the Columbus Day Storm of 1962, but it probably outclasses all other Oregon storms in terms of duration, with its four days of high winds.

The meteorologist used wind records at the Astoria Regional Airport to make comparisons.

Read is working on a project for the Oregon Climate Service called “The Storm King: Historical Weather Events in the Pacific Northwest.”

His name for the December storm, the “Great Coastal Gale” draws from the “Great Gale” of 1880. That was also one of Oregon’s biggest storms.