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 *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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