A case where, like the message in the Duracell TV commercials of days gone by, this tropical storm that began in the Far East doesn't dissipate immediately, but just keeps going and going until it hits land again. Any insiders who speculate in weather-related futures contracts have undoubtedly positioned themselves to profit from this storm.

Bermuda Endures Direct Hit from Nicole; Fierce Winds in Store for Pacific NW
By: Bob Henson | Weather Underground
Oct 14, 2016
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Potential once-in-a-decade windstorm takes shape for Pacific Northwest

The remnants of Typhoon Songda, now pushing east through the North Pacific alongside a very strong branch of the polar jet stream (see FIgure 4 below], will spring back to life this weekend in the form of an intensifying midlatitude cyclone expected to sweep near or over the west coast of Washington. The Pacific Northwest is prone to occasional damaging windstorms caused by strong midlatitude cyclones that arc northward along the coast.

According to the National Weather Service in Seattle, this storm has the potential to be the worst for the region since the Hanukkah Eve windstorm of December 14-15, 2006. Arriving on the heels of weeks of record-heavy rainfall, that storm knocked out power to more than 1.8 million people (in some cases for several days) and caused damage of more than $250 million in the U.S. and more than $80 million in Canada. Other major storms in the Pacific Northwest include the Inaugural Day Storm of January 20, 1993; the February 13, 1979 storm; and the infamous Columbus Day Storm of October 12, 1962, which produced gusts to 116 mph in Portland, Oregon, and 88 mph at Tacoma, Washington (see Figures 5 and 6 below).

This weekend’s storm--already informally dubbed the Ides of October storm--is expected to develop on Saturday west of Oregon and move north-northeast to near or over the Olympic Peninsula of Washington on Saturday night. The GFS and European models agree that its central pressure will be in the range of 965 to 975 millibars near the Washington coast, comparable to the central pressures of many Category 1 and 2 hurricanes.

Figure 4. The windstorm expected to strike the Pacific Northwest over the weekend will develop on the nose of a powerful jet stream segment across the central and eastern North Pacific. Image credit: tropicaltidbits.com.

Figure 5. Damage from the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 in Seattle, WA. Image credit: Seattle Municipal Archives.

Figure 6. Damage from the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 in Newberg, Oregon. Image credit: National Weather Service/Wikimedia Commons.