The Weather Notebook: Seattle Windstorm

Seattle Windstorm
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Hi, I'm Dave Thurlow and this is The Weather Notebook. Despite its rainy reputation, the Pacific Northwest really has pretty boring weather. But every now and then, all the elements line up in just the right way for something spectacular. This was exactly what happened on the afternoon of January 16, 2000, when a wind storm swept through Seattle. Gusts over 70 mph whipped across Lake Washington, knocking out power for half a million Puget Sound residents; a man died when a huge fir tree crushed his truck; and an avalanche triggered by heavy snow and high wind killed another man at a nearby ski area.

What happened? As usual with weather in this part of the country, the main culprit was the Pacific Ocean. For this storm, the Pacific cooked up an unusually intense low pressure system and the active winter jet stream pumped in additional energy and hurtled the low at the Oregon coast with 115 mile-an-hour winds. As the low approached the Washington coast from the southwest, winds intensified around Puget Sound, with maximum gusts hitting Seattle as the system jogged north and proceeded up the coast.

The January 16 windstorm pales beside truly epic events like the Columbus Day windstorm of 1962 - "a classical bomb" in the terminology of meteorologists - or the big blow of December 12, 1995, which plunged Oregon barometers to their all-time lowest reading. It may not make the record or history books, but this recent storm is still a stern reminder of just how suddenly wild - and deadly - weather can turn, even in a climate as meek and mild as the Pacific Northwest.

Thanks to contributing writer David Laskin, who experienced the windstorm from his home in Seattle. And for more information, visit our website at mountwashington.org. The Weather Notebook is underwritten by Subaru, the beauty of all wheel drive.