The "Big Blow" of 1921

[@jamesmoore9511]

Being a lifelong resident of western Washington (80 years old) I knew very little about this historic storm. Thank you for sharing.

[@Nicksonian]

I’ve seen many photos from the Mount St. Helens eruption and the number of trees taken out then was almost unfathomable. Hard to imagine eight times that.

[@jamesslick4790]

👍👍

[@robertslugg8361]

Standing on the rim of St Helens puts a lot into a new perspective. Keeps the ego in check.

[@beckyburtis9977]

Spoton. A grin and a knowing nod here​@robertslugg8361

[@davidlafleche1142]

Even bigger: The Tunguska Explosion.

[@Token_Civilian]

As a nearly life long resident of the Pacific Northwest, I can vouch for our fall and winter wind storms. They get no respect from the national media - a tropical storm or Cat 1 hurricane out in the Atlantic or in the Gulf rates days of breathless coverage, but our not uncommon 50 to 80 MPH storms in the Puget Sound lowlands (and typically more on the coast) that knock out power for days, and nothing. I volunteer on the Pacific Crest Trail, so up in the Cascades, well east of the Olympic Peninsula. Part of what we do every spring is to clear the fallen trees from the trail. The worst years are when we get a storm with winds from the SE, E or NE, not the more typical west or SW. The more common winds bring down a few trees - when blowing from the less common direction, tons come down. Having cut a few 3 to 3 1/2 foot diameter trees with an old school crosscut saw (like they would have used in the 1920's - modern chainsaws aren't allowed in Congressionally designated Wilderness areas) I can only imagine at the amount of effort it took to clear the roads as shown in this episode. Add to that, that cutting "jackstraw" piles of downed trees is multiples more complex than single trees. At times where its too dangerous to cut (say an uprooted tree with a loose root ball uphill from the trail) explosives are used - the USFS still has at least one blaster around here. There is a sawn 6 footer I've hiked past on the (Pacific Crest Trail) north side of Glacier Peak where someone took a sharpie and counted / marked the rings. Something like 700 years old when it came down.

[@jamesjustus6568]

See: Tacoma Narrows Bridge, Hood Canal Floating Bridge and I90 Floating Bridge. All victims of PNW gales and storms. You aren’t wrong, a storm hits the Gulf, eastern seaboard or mid-west and it’s national news. Here it’s just another typical fall and winter.

[@burtrangle3546]

Thanks for keeping the trail open, friend. I'm from Mississippi and your state is the most beautiful. Spent 8 long seasons going from Yosemite to the Olympic peninsula, and back. Along the way: Rainier, LoloPass, Yellowstone, Tetons, and back to Yosemite.

[@scyban12]

I live at the foot of the Olympics, close to Hood canal and although we're more or less protected by the mountains for most weather, when it does come, it comes with a vengeance.

[@ag7898]

Just a few weeks ago, we had 70-80 mlh gusts whipping through the Columbia River Gorge.

[@HowShouldIKnow6543]

East Coast thinks of the West Coast as nothing more than a source of wealth.

[@jameshallett5395]

I lived on the Olympic Peninsula for more than 40 years. I knew this story but as usual THG always makes stories come alive. I experienced Mt. St. Helens volcano, having flow over it the day before eruption and the day after. The Columbus Day “storm” of 1961 was really a hurricane and I was the last car to drive across the Hood Canal Bridge the night it sank into Hood Canal. I guess disasters are in my DNA😊. Thanks as always, THG.

[@DTavona]

You mean 1962?

[@leifnelson6244]

If you attract disasters that much then I suggest that you stay as far away from Tom Hanks as possible or the world could end.

[@memathews]

I also remember the Columbus Day Storm in 1962. The ghosts got as high as 170mph and trees fell everywhere. I walked home from school that day and a tree top broke off right in front of me crashing to the ground with a loud thump. The storm that night left us stranded without power for week while the drone of chainsaws was everywhere cutting timber off the roads while school was closed for days. (Lake Oswego, Oregon)

[@bearalohalani]

I stayed on the playground after school on Oct 12, 1962, watching the trees sway impressively in the undeveloped area across from the building. Then the first Douglas Fir fell on the school and the principal ran out and told us we had to go home Right Now! I was more excited by the storm than fearful, until I was a block from home. Then a gust came which nearly blew me over and I could barely walk against the wind. We'd already lost power, and my mom was pretty worried, but I thought the whole thing was great!

[@johnycoho7830]

Maybe the Lord is trying to get your attention.

[@StevenDietrich-k2w]

The photo at the 9:58 mark of your video is absolutely stunning. I can't imagine the immensity of the portion of the tree that we cannot see.

[@ogoe_joeoutdoors1088]

If you visit the redwood forests you'll inevitably come across some uprooted trees. Their size seems large, but it pales in comparison to when you're next to one.

[@mgmcd1]

I’ve been in a tornado next to an old growth forest. The 100’ high trees were snapping off about 40’ up, and the trunk would move about 10 ‘ off and then fall directly to the ground, then the tree top would fall over. The “snap” of the trunks was very loud, and the bump and whump of the falling top shook the ground. I was in a basement about 50’ from all of this and the noise was deafening. I can’t imagine the sound of this blow. Stunning.

[@rh661]

Lifetime Washington resident. Never heard this story before. Thanks for shining a light on our little corner of the world.

[@smokymcpot5917]

Here in yakima valley about 15 years ago we had a wind storm hit out of nowhere where winds were recorded 110 mph up on autanum ridge. A big branch broke off one of my trees and stuck into the ground two feet deep. Never seen anything like it.

[@cbwilson2398]

I had the Mt. St. Helens eruption in mind throughout your fine presentation, and then to hear towards the end that the loss of trees was 8 times that of Mt. St. Helens just stunned me. I so appreciate your reminding us of our history through your presentations.

[@davidlafleche1142]

Check out the Tunguska Explosion.

[@loritanner4478]

I was 3 years old living in coos bay oregon when the Columbus day storm happened. My mom had put me down for a nap. And she kept putting more blankets on me, because of the storm she thought i was getting cold. Then she said i woke up crying and when she came to check on me. I was crying because i couldnt move because of the weight of all the blankets. 😂 but after. There was so much damage all around our area. My dad was a carpenter. So he had so much work for months after that storm. So many lost roofs, out buildings. And damage from trees. We lived in a really old house that we rented. It had a wooded back yard. But we were lucky that we were at the bottom of a hill that was protected from the wind. But mom said the tops of those old firs were just whipping back and forth. She was just waiting for them to break. Ive lived through quite a few big wind storms in my 64 years on the oregon coast. They are always really scary with all the large trees we have here.

[@Insultingtruth]

That's a very nice story.🍻

[@loritanner4478]

@@Insultingtruth thank you. 😊

[@sarahs5340]

I grew up in the area. Seeing the wind blowing through a massive group of trees with thick branches bending back and forth quickly is like witnessing a violent tide underwater. Everything moves. Birds desperately flee and wildlife hunkers down. It is a sight to behold. Mother Nature is powerful.

[@elwhastrummer]

I'm from NOP, Dad was born 1930 in Forks, WA and he said the trees were still a terrible mess years later, trails and roads were re routed, super hard to travel between LaPush (coast) and Forks. Many of these trees were huge, virgin growth Spruce, Fir, and Cedar that were 10x the size of trees you see now.

[@elwhastrummer]

There's been some pretty extreme weather up here over the years, but they don't put much in the news. The wind blowing through the Strait of Juan de Fuca can be a killer in winter, and northern "arctic blast" storms are frequent, knocking out power and downing trees across the roads.

[@fredherfst8148]

Retired meteorologist here. It was a hurricane? I'm sure there are some meteorological analyses that get into that and how it was handled. The west coast has always been prone to fast developing cyclones or bombs. Many lives lost at sea as well.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

It was the result of a low pressure area. I believe the meteorological term today is extra-tropical cyclone. Some newspapers at the time used the term hurricane, others called it tornadoes or just “wind.”

[@paulholmes672]

So they were having 'climate change' back then, too?

[@mattiemathis9549]

What is the difference? I’m not being a jerk, I thought cyclones were in the pacific and hurricanes in the Atlantic. But then I heard it depends on what direction they spin. I noticed that the terms seemed to be used interchangeably in the articles. What is the current scientific difference between a cyclone and a hurricane? If you have the time to answer, thanks!

[@mikebauer6917]

Tropical cyclones (hurricanes etc) are fueled by strong horizontal moisture convergence feeding convection, which then drives more convergence. Extra-tropical cyclones (nor’easters etc) are fueled by strong temperature gradients. So fundamentally different energy structures. The big blow was an extra tropical cyclone likely coupled with an atmospheric river.

[@johnopalko5223]

@@mattiemathis9549 A cyclone is any low pressure area. Highs are called anticyclones. Cyclones circulate counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern. Anticyclones, of course, circulate in the opposite direction. All hurricanes are cyclones but not all cyclones are hurricanes. One can refer to "hurricane force winds" without the actual involvement of a hurricane. Hurricane force winds are winds of 73 mph or more. In some regions, tornadoes are called cyclones, but that is just common usage and is unrelated to the technical meaning. The phenomena called "hurricanes" in the Atlantic are also called hurricanes in some areas of the Pacific. In other areas, they are called typhoons.

[@jimjimfreethinker]

Several decades ago, I read an album review that began, "This is going to sound like a love letter." On that note, I begin: [For your ediifcation, I discovered your channel about a year ago and I haven't looked back.] I don't know how many of of your listeners know of him, but there used to a be a commentator named Paul Harvey. I discovered him accidentally, one one night, while driving. Now-- Forty-odd years later, I stumbled on your channel. While your on-air style may differ, you have something in common. As with him, the listener is instantly taken into your story. No, not just hearing it, but completely immersed in the tale. When you breathe life into history, you are changing the world for the better. I struggled to find a way to show how much your work is appreciated,. Yet, my best response is a very humble "Thank you". With gratitude, Jim [P.S. I am also rewarded by your enunciation and your articulation. It is exhausting having listen to persons who speak as if they have been administered a copious amount of novocaine.]

[@libbylee9722]

That was beautifully said. I really hope he sees it.

[@KennedyCopy]

I Can see St. Helens from my Portland home and last week we had a similar arctic blast that took out a 120 foot Blue Fir literally 5 feet from my front door. I watched gale arctic blast winds blow this healthy 4-foot thick fir tree right over (away from my house thank god) and many MANY trees took out power lines all over the area and we had no power for the entire week up til last saturday and a sheet of frozen ice covering everything. Portland has no road crews to speak of, no salt or sanding crews and PGE electric company was just not ready. The tree is still on its side in my yard and it took out the porch of my neighbors house and a fence and scared the living shit out of me!

[@robertslugg8361]

That was an East Wind. The West Winds are worse. ;-)

[@KennedyCopy]

@@robertslugg8361 Yipes. I've lived in the PNW most of my adult life and have never seen anything near this level of both cold and wind intensity. It was like if you were writing a movie about climate change suddenly clicking ON and needed some extreme scary footage to underwrite it this was it. I watched that gigantic tree fall from under it standing in my own bedroom and got so terrified i packed a bag and trudged to my frozen car and tried to pull myself together

[@rickde0602]

As a resident of the Pacific Northwest, we called the winds "The Chinooks" . They were always warm, caused flooding in streams and they usually brought the spring. I lived in Richland, WA, and the winds made it 300 miles inland, one year, and DESTROYED anything that resembled a pine tree, and brought down bigger stronger trees.

[@melodymichaelis8783]

Amazing story! I live on the Olympic Peninsula now and know all the places you mentioned. Thank you

[@rayross997]

Thanks! Hope you can do a video on the Dieppe Raid of 1942. Most historians only focus on the failure of not establishing a beach head and ignore the various successes of the raid. As one example British commandos were able to place over 100 German speaking spies behind German lines. These spies would later pass on vital info about the German army. A number of other objectives were accomplished. Men sacrificed their lives to achieve them.

[@markpaul-ym5wg]

The raid was to capture the enigma machines and codes that were there and anything else of importance.

[@rayross997]

@@markpaul-ym5wg Yes, they also brought with the commandos an electrical engineer who examined the radar station & then it was blown up. The commandos freed over 80 underground fighters from a prison also. The true story gets over looked by many historians. Thanks for your input.👍

[@markpaul-ym5wg]

Ray,I forgot about that big radial disc radar that was an early warning system for the AAA and german fighters to be scrambled.Thank you for your reply.

[@JRRodriguez-nu7po]

1921 was also the second hottest day in North America. The hottest was 1936. During these years temperatures would reach 100 in the shade in Alaska. If you want truly interesting weather history being rewritten, watch Tony Heller.

[@dancingkitty11]

Love that guy!

[@RetiredSailor60]

Good Monday morning History Guy and everyone watching

[@Ronaldl2350]

Good morning!

[@carter7441]

Good morning

[@hhuggman1]

Good morning.

[@Moose803]

Ships ahoy

[@HardcoreFourSix]

Reminds me of the 1983 "Enumclaw Hurricane". I was home on leave for Christmas..no power, no cooking Christmas dinner. Lots of property damage 120 mph plus winds. Also THG did a fair job of pronouncing our often-confounding place names.

[@johnhagemeyer8578]

I lived in Graham at that time. I was trapped in only about 4 days. We cooked on the hot stove when we ran out of gas to the Coleman. Candles for about 2 weeks too.

[@mommyjsj]

I grew up where the "Columbus Day Storm" blew down 2 giant oak trees and spun the top off of a 3rd. There were 5 trees that surrounded the house, none hit it. The house did have some damage through, 5 singles blew off. My Aunt and Uncle lived in it at the time. The story goes, that when the storm hit, she was in town 5 miles away, with her children at home she drove like a mad woman with giant fir trees falling across the road behind her. A different Aunt's father across the valley lost power and ended up having to milk 80 head of cows twice a day, for days.

[@johneaton4364]

In around 1960, a violent wind blew down an area of timber about 4 miles wide, on average and 100 miles long, SSE OF Prince George, BC that became known as Blowdown Alley. The wind reached hurricane force and huge trees snapped off like twigs. I joined the Forest Service a couole of years later and recall the salvege operations that evolved to cope.

[@bigjay875]

Excellent work, nice job to the folks that make this possible

[@John-jw2ke]

The storm that I remember is the Colmbus day storm in 1962 that hit the Oregon coast and swept thru the Willamette Valley and into Sw Washington. This affected the 3 largest cities in Oregon.

[@julienielsen3746]

I was 3 years old when that happened. One of my first memories. We lost a lot of walnut trees that were uprooted.

[@glennmiller2494]

My dad said they laughed when they heard there was going to be 80 mph winds that day, they weren't laughing as they cut their way out of the woods that day.We lived in Roseburg Oregon I was 6 months old then

[@elwhastrummer]

My family lived in Lake Grove, OR in 1962. My Mom told me they were only house on the block with a gas range. After the Columbus Day storm, all the neighbors were invited over to cook meals and boil water. 2 big fir trees fell right next to our house. We were lucky.

[@markallen8941]

very interesting! I have lived in the Pacific Northwest since 1992 and never heard of this storm. hard to even comprehend

[@SteveMoser]

I'm somewhat surprised about no mention of the Columbus Day Storm of 1962. It's the one a lot of people still talk about in the PNW.

[@hlcorick]

Maybe THG has a story coming on this. Have a good day.

[@rocksandoil2241]

Thanks!

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

Thank you!

[@bobSeigar]

Recently found your channel, I just want to say, thanks for making this public and free. It appears to be a great resource so far, you definitely have a passion and a love for what you do. it resonates intensely and I am here for it.

[@shawnr771]

Welcome to the community. Many of the commenters will add personal knowledge of some of the events from ancestors. Excellent community involvement.

[@bobSeigar]

@@shawnr771 Thank you for the warm welcome.

[@Andrewm714]

I live in Seattle (North Beacon Hill), 3 times this year the power in my neighborhood has gone out - the latest Christmas Day morning. The electrical infrastructure of Seattle can best be described as a scrambled mess of haywire. At present we're feeling the effects of what is called a "Pineapple Express" which is unusually warm wind that has melted the snowpack on both the Olympic and Cascade mountains. When the power went out the maximum wind speed was a mere 30 mph. More than enough to thoroughly mess up our so-called power grid.

[@deiterhogradish]

Hey, me too! Now that I've stocked up on candles and Sterno, I'm sure it won't happen again, ha ha.

[@igotfriendsinlowplaces2971]

Why’d you move there? You ruined the city and the state with your Marxist ideology

[@atomic_wait]

There's also the thing where folks occasionally take down power stations to steal the copper.

[@DaneOrschlovsky]

I also live in Washington, and our kids were home from school for a week because of a minimal amount of snow and ice that should have easily been cleared had our municipality and state properly invested in infrastructure. It seems that our tax dollars are not being put to good use, who knew? MAYBE it's time to elect new leadership in our state, and I'm not talking about different people with the same policies.

[@danam0228]

So, if one of these storms hit you, you'd all die?

[@echohunter4199]

This isn’t an isolated case, i grew up in Klamath Falls, OR and I saw a similar event in 1981 on the Cascade mountain range near the summit region near Eugene Oregon. I was amazed to see the entire forest for as far as I could see had all the trees laid flat like hair on a dogs back. A huge windstorm hit that winter and wiped out miles of the forest, looked like a nuke went off. The lumber industry salvaged much of it but the terrain was very harsh. The average pine tree can’t handle lateral forces very well so this happens now and then.

[@markstevenson6635]

But Eugene is in the Willamette Valley nowhere near the summit.

[@echohunter4199]

@@markstevenson6635 seriously? You do know that the word ‘near’ is loosely used in this context. If you live in Oregon you’ll know that there’s just a few highways that pass over the mountains between the east and west side of the long range of mountains we call the Cascades. Hwy 58 is one of them and it’s quite a ways from where I saw the event but tell me, what large city should I have used instead of Eugene to indicate a region along the Cascades? We often use Medford to indicate the southern tip then Eugene for the middle area. The Cascades is a large swath of area that’s very desolate and void of any population, there’s places where there’s no one in 90 miles in any direction.

[@danam0228]

8 times that of the Mount St Helen eruption?! Wow! That is truly amazing!

[@farmwife7944]

I wonder how those storm damages compared to some of the blowdown events in the NY Adirondack forests, such as the Blowdown of 1950 or 1995. The NYS Museum used to have an exhibit titled Blowdown Theater. Folks would enter this round room and sit on the floor, the lights would dim and nighttime shadows of huge trees would appear on all the walls, then came the loud recorded sounds of a blowdown with huge trees crashing down all around reflected by the shadows on the walls. The rest of the full Blowdown exhibit had large photos taken of the miles of swaths of downed trees on the sides of the mountains as well as the photos of the loggers working at the cleanups.

[@greggi47]

I have enjoyed your posts since becoming aware of them around the time you started making them. A friend said she thought these were simply "oddities". So wrong! The eclectic scope of your presentations is part of a wonderful mosaic of events and people most of us would b ever have a chance to know about without you. Thanks much, and keep at it,

[@torgeirbrandsnes1916]

Great vlog as always! Today in the Northern part of Norway the same type of weather is hitting the coast line from Bodø to the North cape with a avg wind speed of more than 60 kts!

[@gyrene_asea4133]

Hope you had it all 'battened-down', and that all came through okay. Greetings from warmer climes!

[@scallgin]

Thanks, today is my brother’s 82nd B’day. I’ll share this story with him over dinner.

[@gyrene_asea4133]

Say hiya to him and best wishes. Our lives are enriched by the stories we tell each other. Lost my last brother 10months ago near the Gorge.

[@mamangisda1573]

I was hunting elk on the Olympic Peninsula during a much lesser 1980 windstorm. Even then, there were so many trees dropping that we cut our hunt short and decided to get out of the timber. A few hundred feet from a paved road, an big alder dropped across the logging road; lacking an axe or saw, we had to shoot the trunk in half so we could escape. Another hunter shot an elk in a clearcut. The rest of the herd ran for the timber just in time for a bunch of big trees to drop in front of them. They turned back into the clearcut and bedded down near the dead elk. A person in a campground was killed when a big fir landed on their tent. After the storm cleared, we checked out the damage in a nearby campground. Tree trunks had twisted so violently they exploded and threw splinters the size of my leg for a hundred feet. It was one of the scariest days I've spent in the woods--and I went through a couple of the 1980 Mt. St. Helens eruptions. It's mind-boggling to think the 1921 windstorm was way, way worse.

[@davepfizer]

We are not always able to see all our history as much of it is either too insignificant or very local to where we live with the result that we don't know what has happened where we live even 50 years ago let alone 200 years. Some of our history is if not important then at least socially remarkable. Where I live there are many relics of WW2 in hidden tunnels such that many of us would like them to be open to the public but it is clear that there is little or no interest in anyone making access easier. We have a two story hidden hospital underground in the middle of our town. Our history tells us who we are and where we came from and also of the bravery and sacrifice of those that went before us and yet those in charge are almost hell bent on keeping it hidden. Many thanks for telling the story.

[@mikemcintosh9933]

Thank you for recounting this extraordinary event. If I may...the town mentioned at 12:10 Hoquiam is pronounced by locals as Hoe-kwee-um. Local history suggests the name was borrowed from first nation peoples who ascribed it after observing the behavior of the white settlers there. In their language it means "hungry for wood."

[@gyrene_asea4133]

If that is so, too funny. Thanks.

[@PennyHays44]

I was looking to see if some corrected Hoquiam. Thanks.

[@mikemcintosh9933]

@@gyrene_asea4133 Found a source for the meaning. Some information suggests the name came from the behavior of the river, not the behavior of the white settlers. www.google.com/search?q=Hoquiam%2C+WA+Name+origins&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS980US980&oq=Hoquiam%2C+WA+Name+origins&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQIRigATIHCAIQIRigATIHCAMQIRigATIHCAQQIRirAjIHCAUQIRirAtIBCDUwMTVqMGo0qAIAsAIA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

[@normanmallory2055]

Well covered on this wind storm ! I live in Clallam County and I wasn’t born when this happened! I have 3 books that cover that wind storm !

[@KSMvidcast]

This is a remarkable story I hadn't heard of. Surprising, since I've lived in the area (Tacoma) all my life. Thank you for sharing this incredible tale!

[@johnseawind9558]

This reminds me of 2008, when the remnants of hurricane Ike blew across Kentucky. It took out a lot of old trees in the Louisville area, and thousands of people (myself included) were without power for over a week. I shudder to think about the damage that a storm such as this one would do in a major metropolitan area.

[@davidbarr8394]

Lived in Portland on Oct 12, 1962, Columbus Day Storm: the wind recorded around dusk at 140 mph downtown . Lived in the Northwest all my life, ten years in Aberdeen-Hoquiam, and never heard of this one. January 29, probably pretty cool that day. What's the chill factor of 30 degrees with 150-180 gusts? Lot of old growth Doug fir went down, some of them as big or bigger than Redwoods. Thanks for the narrative.

[@WhaleGold]

I remember the Columbus Day Storm and I lived in SE Washington; I was a Junior in HS. After my mom died I found some pictures of parents and sister taken on the grounds of the Oregon State Capitol building. There were pictures of big trees laying there, and unless she miss-dated them, they were taken a month after the storm. I remember thinking how bad this must have been on the west side if they had not even gotten the capitol bldg grounds cleaned up yet.

[@kingboagart899]

A couple of similiar storms that i recall happened in the 60s, i believe that it was known as the Columbus Day storm, and the Inaugural Day storm in 93. Both packed hurricane force winds.

[@Dan-l5y]

We get some wild weather here in the northwest. I was in the April 5 1972 tornado in Vancouver Washington.

[@amb3cog]

Cool! That’s the day I was born. On the East Coast though, thankfully. Tornadoes are no joke. ✌️

[@djohnson9083]

Awesome story History Guy. The worst storms I had previously known were recounted in the Eric Larson book “Isaac’s Storm.” Also, I remember a story about Katherine Hepburn being in a really bad storm on the East Coast.

[@davidlafleche1142]

I think that was the 1938 Hurricane. The worst thing about it was that ONE GUY at the National Weather Bureau had forecast it perfectly, and wanted New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island to put up hurricane warnings. But four fogies shouted him down and insisted that no hurricane could possibly hit New England. (See "New England's Killer Hurricane of 1938.")

[@glennrainey1227]

The Big Wind, Ireland 1839 ... worth a look ... legendary. . Thanks for this most interestinf meterogical history!

[@diarcon]

Absolutely. It entered social history in Ireland as part of the assessment for the old age pension when it was introduced in 1909, with the question "were you born before the night of the big wind?". I know of several derelict buildings which were damaged that night and we're not subsequently repaired.

[@philgiglio7922]

That's a very nice piece of art glass over your left shoulder. Some of the cuts are interesting tactics to avoid the 'impossible' cut.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

A gift from a friend.

[@harryschaefer8563]

Thanks for another great episode. Having seen the remarkable results of the Mount St. Helens explosion, I was amazed that damage from the1921 "Big Blow" was greater the the damage done by the Mount St. Helens explosion. Driving east on the road to Mount St. Helens affords the amazing site of all the trees for miles around knocked down, all pointing in the same direction, away from the blast.

[@edwinmccowan7433]

How about the Columbus Day storm of October 12,1962. That storm was the reason I quit logging and entered the military. Knew if I stayed out in the woods there was a could chance of getting killed as the trees were down like jackstraws.

[@denniswilhelm1316]

When the timber companies in the 60s and 70s would log their land, they would refer to it as 21 blow, meaning the forest that came back after the storm. Thick, tall, predominantly fir and hemlock and spruce.

[@coraltown1]

Thick, tall < nonsense

[@denniswilhelm1316]

@@coraltown1 not sure what you mean?

[@grant6173]

Trying to clear a path through that would be dangerous, let alone brutally difficult. A trunk like that can kick violently if the wrong one is cut. And it's a miracle there wasn't a fire.

[@OrdinaryDude]

As a Washingtonian, I have to snicker a little at some of your attempts pronouncing our wacky city names. ;) We got hammered with one of those storms in either 2005 or 2006. At our house in Woodinville, our power was out for nine days. It was surreal.

[@revvyhevvy]

Great post! You never disappoint!

[@clarencewest6418]

At an estimated 8 billion board ft of lumber, check out the current price per board ft of spruce (.35 to $2.50 per). This comes to 2.8 to $20 billion.

[@JamesSmith-mz9ec]

Thanks for this, I did not know this about where I live, devastating.!

[@sarahb9240]

I've never heard of this before. Really interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[@derrickray5464]

Wow! I've lived in Louisiana and Florida and never heard of a storm like this. Stunning to have never heard of it!

[@bartsimpson6767]

Aerial photos would certainly help grasp the scale of destruction. I never heard of this, thanks.

[@TheHistoryGuyChannel]

The Forestry service has a couple, but I didn’t use them because it is actually quite difficult to see what is going on in the pictures.

[@mattiemathis9549]

I lived in Idaho as a kid, but it was on the plains, so storms had different effects. But in 2003 I was patrolling through the glacier national park in Montana. A blizzard had come through and leveled 90% of the trees in areas miles wide. I saw trees with a 2 ft trunk that were snapped 3 feet off the ground. That blizzard was hard and late and really effected the ranchers. I cannot imagine the destruction from winds that could snap a 4 foot diameter tree. And Montana was a blizzard so there was ice buildup. Dang, that had to feel like the world was ending…

[@Scrat335]

I lived on the Olympic Penn for 3 years. Port Angeles. Make no mistakes. Some storms can be brutal.

[@robertjeffery6100]

We live in the woods and everyone a high wind blows our nerves get rattled and our our firewood stock grows.

[@BasicDrumming]

I appreciate you and thank you for making content.

[@builtontherockhomestead9390]

August 2012 my rural Texas home was hit by a microburst. The wind that destroyed or damaged every building on my property was not as bad as the storm in this video. A neighbor almost a mile away had several full grown oak trees that were pulled out of the ground. The entire root balls of those trees were visible from the road and wider then the 1 story house was tall. That was from a microburst, straight line winds. A single event, unlike the storm described in this video. That must have been a terrifying storm. I know looking out my window with a torrential downpour outside and feeling the house shake for a few seconds was terrifying, but the entire storm only lasted 30 minutes and the shaking only a few seconds. Then I was able to go outside and survey the damage. I can't even imagine the terror the folks experienced during this storm.

[@stephen5119]

I think this piece would have been enhanced with : the use of a map on -a continental scale - showing the extent of the area affected; any aerial photos taken then (or even some years later ) to give a sense of the scale of destruction and some well informed speculation as to what meteorological conditions could account for such a phenomenon. (I once read that it may be possible for the jet stream (under rare circumstances) to dip and touch the surface of the earth, but I don't know whether this is possible. Your podcasts are always worth listening to, but that this one settled for narrative and statistics without a leavening of analysis.

[@playwithmeinsecondlife6129]

It's interesting to note that the people of the day spoke of the disaster in terms of the forest's usefulness to commercial concerns.

[@miapdx503]

Here in the Pacific Northwest, we see some interesting weather. I would love hear accounts from the early settlers. How they survived the winters and adjusted to the rainfall. I know I had to adjust...it rains for about nine months.

[@archstanton_live]

Very devastating indeed! When assessing the relevance of this event for current times one must consider the local topography / wind direction / population density. Note that the concern for subsequent fire density was well considered then as it is now.

[@gyrene_asea4133]

Being one of those who end up as part of the Response to large-scale disasters, you are spot on! Folk are effected, we must expect it every time.

[@JustFluffyQuiltingYarnCrafts]

Thank you for this glimpse back into the past. ❤

[@c.rogers4394]

You just reminded me of what it must have been like to "get groceries" back then, before the 'Super Market, so it would be fitting for you to do one on the birth of the 'super market', thanks, and oh yes, have you done the Columbus Day Storm? My dad worked away from home two years salvaging timber and clearing power line right of ways, for repair, and bigger storm proof power lines.

[@cathyleslie5151]

I live on the Kitsap Peninsula and have been through a lot of storms. The storm of 3 December 2007 was classified as a cat 3 hurricane. I have never been through anything like that “big blow.”

[@briannw1973]

Hoe-quee-am is the correct pronunciation of the town in the story. And great story! Thank you.

[@TS-ef2gv]

The journals of Lewis and Clark describe (lament) the storminess of the northwest coast during the winter they spent near the mouth of the Columbia River. Even then it was a notoriously treacherous area for ships, which kept the expedition from making any hoped-for resupply contact with vessels passing up or down the coast that winter.

[@TheRiverPirate13]

Never heard of this great storm but wow! Enjoyed the video!

[@theboyisnotright6312]

Ive lived most if ny life aling the Mississippi River, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Avout every 20-25 years we have bug derecho. An hour or more with winds up to 120mph or so. With a few embedded tornados. It takes all the dead and dying trees down. We are about due as the last one was July 1998., before that July 1976.

[@carolevans2714]

As I watch this amazing episode months after it was first shown, there is currently a “bomb cyclone” swirling off the coast of WA and OR. It is due to hit 11/19-11/20. It could be big. Lifelong WA state resident, I have been through many windstorms here. Thanks for making this show!

[@tedbomba6631]

Amazing that I had never known about this horrific event prior to this video ! Thanks for sharing this with us.

[@captainnathan1164]

I have read about this on the Oregon coast and was reading a journal from a while back and remember them describing the sound of the wind coning at them....must have been terrifying

[@ElkoJohn]

Much obliged for this report.

[@JimWilliams-o6f]

During the time I was in Portland in the early 1990s, I heard people talk about similar storms occurring in the late 60s and early 80s. Sweeping up the Willamette River Valley causing much damage to Medford, Eugene, Salem, Portland and many points between. In the comments I saw mention of a similar storm 12ys ago in Ohio where I live now. I remember it well. Softball size hail driven by 85mph wind pulverized siding, windows and roofs.

[@yakacm]

The great storm of 1987 that hit the southern part of the UK would be interesting to cover, not so much for the ferocity, although we did experience wins speeds of 115MPH +, which was bad, but France actually got hit harder. What makes interesting is that someone had phoned the BBC during the day to ask if there was a hurricane coming, and the weather man on the evening news, mentioned the call and laughed at it saying, no there was a hurricane coming, only to be proven wrong in just a few short hours.

[@claytondennis8034]

I lived in the Columbia River valley at Hood River, OR. It can be very windy in the valley, so I cannot imagine how violent the wind must ha e been during this event!

[@gyrene_asea4133]

Well presented. We live in a world of awesome events which underline the importance of being helpful to our fellows.

[@paulmcmanus6222]

Good morning, THG. Excellent job on the pronunciations. Thank you for your efforts in reporting! On minor quibble... HOH kwee um instead of HAH kwee um. Thank you for being here!

[@revvyhevvy]

And correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Tuolumne have a 'knee' at the end?

[@jeffsaxton2051]

@@revvyhevvy Tuolumne is in California, far from this area. Tuh-wahl'-um-me.

[@seandepoppe6716]

Awsome! That happened in my backyard then basically. I think you can still see damage from that storm today. There are huge areas along the coast that all the trees are flattened. NOT from logging.

[@JeffreyGlover65]

Something like this happened in Ohio, from top to bottom...about 12 yrs ago. Trees uprooted and blown down all over the state.

[@Nicksonian]

That was the June 29, 2012 derecho that traveled a remarkable 600 miles from northern Indiana to Maryland’s Eastern Shore in about ten hours. I am in Annapolis, Maryland, and was alone at work when it hit sometime close to midnight. The building rattled something fierce. But as I recall, despite the crazy winds, there wasn’t a lot of damage here. We’ve gotten worse from hurricanes.

[@PinkyJujubean]

That's happened here in Michigan on a small scale. Back in 96 we had a nasty storm that tore out most of the trees in our neighborhood except the bigger ones like Oak trees

[@davidbeard1115]

It was Hurricane Ike that year in Ohio

[@dinascharnhorst6590]

I think that was the remnants of Hurricane Ike, as I recall. I was on duty as a paramedic that day, and we found.ourselves taking one route to a scene, and then having to re route only a short time later due to the fallen trees now blocking our way. Exciting to say the least.

[@davewenger3610]

It was the derecho of 2012. Hit us in VA the night before my dad's funeral. We spent an hour that night in the cellar listening to reports of "tornadoes" in the area, spent the morning cleaning up large branches from the church property oaks, and had a very warm funeral that afternoon without power and fanning ourselves with the programs. But the singing in the Mennonite church was memorable and, as always, didn’t need to be miked. My dad would have appreciated the craziness of it all, and that wind from Ohio whisked him on his way.

[@tmcdowell5986]

I recall flying over the Mount St Helens area sometime after the event. Realizing what I was looking at I was absolutely gob struck by the immensity of fallen timber. To say that the sight I observed pales in comparison to the damage from this event is going to give me a headache trying to imagine.

[@Matthew-ix1mq]

Another fantastic presentation!!

[@Snittyguy]

I love this channel. Hi from Nova Scotia, Canada

[@RetiredSailor60]

I visited Nova Scotia in 2002 on USS Wasp LHD 1...

[@Snittyguy]

@@RetiredSailor60 I hope you enjoyed your time here.

[@RetiredSailor60]

@@Snittyguy For the most part yes, but with a heavy heart. The ship had just lost a young crewmember in New York a few days before. A tragedy that could have been avoided.

[@Snittyguy]

@@RetiredSailor60 Oh that is so sad. Yes, I have crossed a few situation where someone died while traveling or in port here in Halifax. Always so sad.

[@brianthomas4773]

Many years ago, in the early 1980s... This was during my tree falling career of 20 years . I was many times involved in falling groves of hemlock... In these particular areas it was referred to as the"21 blow".... Were the trees that started growing in the areas where the 21 blow hit hard... I understood it to be storm that occurred in 1921. But In watching this documentary, yet put a real story to what I heard in the 1980s when I was falling trees that started growing in the same area as the 21 blow.. at that time the trees were not real big because it had only been 60 years. Or so.........

[@brianthomas4773]

I also remember quite well as a young child the Columbus Day storm as it is referred to... It was in the evening and I remember the really loud noise with the whistling of the wind. Well call it the howling of the wind....... And trees snapping off on our property as we lived in the country just off the lower chehalis river. Just east of Aberdeen WA. About 2 or 3 miles ... Brian

[@jeffbangkok]

When I worked at the highway dept. in the 80's a wet snow took down miles of Fir tree's through a state park. It took us 2 weeks to open, I can't even imagine the extent of work needed.

[@bluezhawg2104]

In the late 80’s and throughout the 90’s I worked the timber industry in and around Ilwaco Washington. I’ve witnessed firsthand some very heavy storms, good times back then

[@robinboyles73]

I live close and say an awful wind storm in Olympia around 10 years ago. It was crazy in the levels of damage and destruction of major trees. I was working emergency services at the time and literally pulled Christmas size "trees" out of roof and then tarped to slow leaks.

[@walterbrannock9775]

i grew up in Aberdeen. never heard this story. thank you

[@chrisbutler7585]

When a similar windstorm hit the area in 1910, it came during a fire. In six hours, over 3 million acres of forest burned.

[@HikerBiker]

Lived in Western WA. for 70 years camping, climbing, backpacking in the Olympics many times and have never heard of this event.

[@denisewilkes7486]

Very interesting and was surprised to know I never learned about anything like this in school.

[@summerlakephotog8239]

Excellent recounting of a singularly devastating weather event.

[@jayhopkins6990]

All those elk killed And they were worried that the sportsman wouldn't have a good hunting season. What a difference a hundred years makes🍁🙂

[@DanielSilverthorn]

I've had this video downloaded for months (along with hundreds of others) and it finally played today, coincidentally the morning after a very similar "bomb cyclone" storm just passed along a similar route, just a little further off the coast. So far, only one person is reported as killed from this storm, but it's amazing coincidence to see this video about a nearly identical storm from about 103 years before.