Whenever the Columbia River Bar at the mouth of the river temporarily becomes too dangerous to cross because of bad weather, the result a day or so later is a backlog of ships that have been waiting to leave or to arrive. That creates a steady stream of vessels, 24/7, until everything is back to normal.
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Today the bar is on Red status because of the weather, meaning few if any ships will cross the bar today at the river’s entrance.
We’ll talk about how weather matters here, and why it can seem calm off Astoria and be crazy dangerous just 17 miles to the west.
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Today we take a look at our seasonally rowdy weather forecast, which already has the Columbia River Bar on Red status this morning, meaning ship traffic is halted across the river entrance until conditions improve. Add that to King Tides we’ll see starting on Friday, and it’s a recipe for some serious beach hazards you need to know about.
It’s tun to see big waves, just make sure you’re in a safe place to watch. And there are plenty of places to go for a good perch so you can see everything but not risk your life in the process.
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Every year around this time, I do a show about an enduring maritime tragedy: the sinking of the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior on Nov. 10, 1975. The incident, where the ship was lost in a storm and all hands perished, is emblematic of the risks all mariners take when they go to sea, and of the grief endured by their loved ones on land – waiting for those who never return home.
Today and every year on the show, we honor those lost at sea by commemorating this tragedy.
This show features Gordon Lightfoot’s iconic song about the tragedy, which is a factual account of what happened. We’ll take a look at what happened aboard the FItzgerald that led her her demise on an icy night on the big lake.
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The presence of a large containership, outbound on the river today, offers a good opportunity to talk about the invention of a device that revolutionized the shipping industry: the now ubiquitous shipping container.
This commonly seen metal cargo box, which made its debut on a ship 68 years ago, soon permanently changed how cargo was shipped worldwide.
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A look at today’s complement of ships, what they’re carrying, where they’re from and where they’re headed.
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