Today we’ll walk about an interesting but obscure topic for most land dwellers: how stormy sea conditions can vary between large bodies of fresh and salt water, like the Great Lakes and the Pacific Ocean. It’s not something we usually think about on land, but mariners know it well. And a bit more about what local conditions make our region so hazardous.
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We have what looks to be a week-long spell of sunshine or at least “not-raining” coming our way.
We’ll also take a look at ships and cargo, and how cargo determines the types of ships you see in a given region.
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It’s been pretty foggy in parts of the lower Columbia region the past few days. Or not foggy at all, depending on where you are. It’s part of a a larger pattern this week statewide of dense foggy conditions.
We’ll talk about what might be causing our fog here and what ships do under such conditions.
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We’re seeing unusual ships arriving in the river this week so far. Yesterday it was the USCGC Healy, the Coast Guard’s biggest ship, headed to the Swan Island shipyard.
Today it’s the USNS Grasp, a highly specialized rescue and salvage ship, whose job it is to save people and ships when they get in trouble on the water.
Image: the USNS Grasp, photo courtesy of US Navy photo gallery.
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Today we’ll see the USCGC Healy, a Coast Guard icebreaker and the US military branch’s largest vessel, enters the river early this morning on her way to the Vigor shipyard in Portland for about 8 months of repairs and maintenance. She’s an unusual vessel with some interesting history behind her name.
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Yesterday the Columbia River Bar was on Red status, per the Columbia River Bar Pilots. It’s the most severe restriction on ship traffic they can impose, and it means most, if not all, ships will be restricted from coming in or out of the river till the weather improves.
We have a big potential ship schedule today, meaning lots of ships want to enter and leave the river. Today we’ll talk about the effect a temporary, weather-related closure like this has on vessels, and what they do while they wait.
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