[Paddlewise] Recent Pacific Storms

Today I was out on the coast with an Oceanography Professor and a Phd in
coastal geology.  We were talking about the beach erosion problems from the
recent storms.  Recently the Pacific Norhtwest been pummeled by a series of
intense Pacific storms.  The researchers said we had 2 one hundred year
storm events on the Oregon coast this November.  These storms were not one
hundred year events inland but they were on the ocean.  They said the
offshore buoys indicated 50 to 55 foot seas with some rogue waves as tall as
10 story buildings. I knew we had big seas during these events but 50 feet!
They said for the past 30 years the trend has been for more intense storms
with higher waves.  They anticipate we are moving into a time period
dominated by la nina events.  We have noticed an improvement in salmon runs
largely responding to good ocean conditions (cold water upwellings).  They
indicated a climatic shift to more intense storms. They did not have the
data to indicate if it was due to global warming. So is anyone interested in
crossing the Columbia bar in a sea kayak? It would make a good feature on
rescues for Sea Kayaker magazine -- MZ

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