Image Credit: NWS Medford/Southern Oregon Historical Society
The Columbus Day Storm originated as Typhoon Freda. It’s remnants created a powerful storm over the Pacific Northwest.
Today is the 56th Anniversary of the Columbus Day Storm, also known as the “Big Blow”. This was the strongest wind storm on record for the Pacific Northwest.
As it came near shore, winds exceeded 145 mph at Cape Blanco. Inland, winds reached 58 mph at Medford and 127 mph at Corvallis. Impacts were widespread over the area with large scale power outages, trees down and timber loss of 11 billion board feet. There was significant widespread structure damage. Additionally there were many fatalities during this storm.
Those of you interested in reading more about this storm please see this Columbus Day Storm post by Oregon Encyclopedia
