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A look at today’s ship schedule
It’s great to see ships moving on the river again. We’ll have some relatively calm weather this week, so we’ll take a look at who’s on the river today.
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More weather on the way
Another storm is heading out way, with the potential to disrupt the flow of ship traffic on the river. This is pretty normal and happens in the winter time. Safety is essential for ships and the people on them.
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Waterspout off the Long Beach Peninsula shows the serious nature of local weather
After our near-miss with a severe storm that walloped Washington to the north of us, a thunderstorm off the Long Beach Peninsula yesterday spawned a waterspout in the ocean off Long Beach. The waterborne tornado moved on up the coast to Tokeland and beyond. And we have more weather on the way.
Don’t be tempted to feel cavalier about the fact that this round of weather “wasn’t so bad.” It could be next time. Winter on the coast means staying informed and being prepared.
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Our weather continues, with a look at how vessels handle it at sea
That dangerous bomb cyclone storm is moving on to the north of us, leaving us with big seas for the next day or so. It was a close call… a storm packing hurricane force winds that somehow missed a direct hit on Oregon and Washington.
Image courtesy Storm Radar.
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Bomb cyclone with deep low pressure shapes our coastal weather this week
An intense low pressure storm called a bomb cyclone is churning out in the ocean a couple hundred miles offshore of the Oregon and Washington coast. While it’s not predicted to make landfall here locally, it will send us some walloping winds, seas and rain.
We’ll talk about what to expect.
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The ubiquitious, but seldom noticed, Quonset hut
Today a look at a common but oft-overlooked maritime structure – the Quonset hut. First designed and built for the US Navy in 1941, they were styled after a WWI version called the Nissen hut. Once used in military installations during WWII, the Navy sold them surplus to the public after the war, and the rest, as they say, is history.
And we’ll hear what is probably the quintessential artistic work regarding this unusual style of building: Fisher Poet Jon Campbell’s reading of his hilarious poem, “Quonset Hut,” in which he refers to the Quonset hut as being a testament to Rhode Island’s “indigenous school of meatloaf architecture.”
Image: Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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Who’s coming and going on the river today?
A look at today’s complement of cargo vessels on the river.
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As weather improves, a backlog of ships getting back to work
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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As rough weather keeps the bar on Red status, we’ll talk about how weather matters here
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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Inclement weather and King Tides add up to increased beach risks and flooding
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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