Great Gale of 1880

The Great Gale of 1880 was an extremely intense extratropical cyclone (possibly deeper than 955 millibars (mb) or 28.20") that impacted the Northwest United States on January 9, 1880.

On January 19, 1880, a letter to The Daily Oregonian from an Astoria resident reads,

Parts of the lower Columbia seem to have experienced a blizzard, as related from Westport:

An article printed on January 12, 1880 noted,

In the Fort Clatsop area along the Lewis and Clark River, it was reported

Likely, all these locations were north of the storm’s center. A west and northwest wind is a particular giveaway. The mention of strong winds at Westport and Fort Clatsop is also an interesting feature, and may have been the result of a strong bent-back occlusion.

In contrast to the north coast, a letter from Newport, Oregon printed in the Oregonian on January 17, 1880 reported

There was no snowfall on the coastal hills around Newport, but "several miles from here it is five inches, and gradually deepens as you go east. Said to be 18 inches deep at Siletz, Oregon." Further south, it was reported on January 19 that Gardiner was struck with a "perfect gale" that threw large breakers ashore and shoved water into a warehouse, threatening livestock. "The rain came down in torrents," and the Umpqua River and Smith River flooded high, adding to the wet mess. "The storm raged with great violence at Coos Bay." The three-masted schooner Emma Utter dragged anchor and was smashed ashore. Owing to the vivid descriptions of the storm’s strength, these locations were likely south of the cyclone’s center. The southeast wind at Newport is particularly informative in this regard.

The powerful gale struck much of the Willamette Valley in the mid to late morning. For example, "the heaviest windstorm ever known in these parts" struck Monmouth, in Polk County, at about 11 AM. The strong winds also struck the city of Corvallis at 11 AM, with the gale lasting until about 3 PM, and started around 9 AM in Blodgett in the coast range to the west. In Portland, the powerful wind began at 11 AM, and lasted until about 2:30 PM. This contrasts sharply against the wind arrival times for places along the Lower Columbia, which as noted above, were around 2 PM, about the time that the winds had abated in the Willamette Valley. The timing difference is an important part of this storm’s interpretation.

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Wikipedia