72 Microseasons of the Pacific Northwest

The first great Pacific storms of the season arrive on the Washington and Oregon coasts between late October and early November, and storm-watching has become one of the most popular autumn activities in the region. Winds sustained at 40–60 mph and gusts exceeding 80 mph at exposed headlands drive surf to heights of 20–30 feet on the outer coast, sending spray dozens of feet into the air where it catches the low November light. Cape Disappointment State Park, at the mouth of the Columbia River, is perhaps the most dramatic storm-watching location on the U.S. Pacific Coast. The twin lighthouses — Cape Disappointment Light and North Head Light — sit on basalt headlands above the "Graveyard of the Pacific," and the surf at North Head is among the most violent on the coast. Visitors watch from behind the safety of the lighthouse compound fence as waves crash over the jetty and surge into the river mouth. Kalaloch, on the Olympic Peninsula's outer coast, offers a more intimate experience — the beach itself is accessible, with wide flat sands that allow watching waves from a respectful distance. Along the BC coast and Washington's outer coast, ancient storm-battered Sitka spruces mark the wind's historical reach: their crowns permanently shaped into one-sided "wind flags" pointing inland. At low tide after storms, beach-walkers find Japanese glass floats, drift logs, and other ocean debris deposited by the surge. Common murres, rhinoceros auklets, and other seabirds ride out storms close to shore, often visible from headlands. The sheer physical power of these storms — audible, visible, smellable in the salt spray — is one of the Pacific Northwest's most visceral seasonal experiences.