It was only the remnants of Typhoon Freda but it brought intense non-tropical winds to the coastal areas of the Western U.S. The news called it the worst storm of the 20th Century with average winds exceeding 100 mph and close to 180 mph in the Pacific Northwest. Massive widespread destruction, entire areas of forest flattened to the ground, and 46 deaths resulted. It would also be called the Columbus Day storm – October12, 1962.

I guess it was a “Mighty Big Blow!” While familiar with both the dry winds and winter blizzards in the plains, I’d never experienced such velocity as this storm. Standing in the only windowless room in a nine room, two story 50+ year old wood frame house holding a 6 week old baby – I was terrified.

Persistent high winds from the ocean can create a second tide – a  high tide that arrives before the previous one has subsided. Such a tide brought water from the Pacific Ocean up the Willapa River in Washington state, clear into town, down the street and right up to the front porch of that big old house. Yes, it was a “Mighty Big Blow.”

More impressive records have been set, however. Research notes that the highest wind ever recorded was 253 mph during Tropical Cyclone Olivia in Barrow Island, Australia. Cyclones are massive, rotating storms. The most brutal are called hurricanes or typhoons depending on where they occur. A bomb cyclone like the  East coast experienced in late January brought heavy snow and hurricane force winds.

Bomb Cyclones come in four stages. First: There are two stationary fronts – one with dry, cold air and the second one with moist, warm air. Second: These fronts collide. Third: The fronts begin to rotate around a low-pressure center. Fourth: The cold air crowds out the warm air forcing it to rise. The temperature changes and air pressure drops. When the drop in air pressure is severe – 24 milibars in 24 hours  — we have a bomb cyclone. Now that is a “Mighty Big Blow” with freezing cold and snow.

Tornados are much smaller than hurricanes and occur over land creating funnel clouds, but their funnels can reach up to 300 mph. Tornado winds are difficult to measure, but can even pick up buildings, cars, animals, and tons of soil. Remember the “Mighty Big Blow” that picked up Dorothy from a Kansas farm  and dropped her off in the magical Land of Oz?

But there is a good side to this story – especially when we consider winds that are more like calm gentle breezes. Scientists tell us that the negative ions in these  breezes can reduce drowsiness, boost our production of serotonin and lower cortisol levels, the hormone partly responsible for stress. A gentle breeze can calm the nervous system and help clear our minds. “And don’t we all need that?”

So, consider the phrase from a collection of nursery rhymes going back as far as 1557 from the 14th century poet Geoffrey Chaucer . . .

“March winds and April Showers

Bring forth May Flowers.”

May you have an abundance of breezes, showers, and lot of flowers!

Carol Tamparo