The Bermuda Triangle of Northwest Weather

Some things are beyond scientific understanding.  Weather phenomena that can not be explained by forecast models and high-tech observations. Occurrences that are known by local meteorologists but are rarely spoken about in public.  Perhaps the best-known example:  the Napavine Triangle.

Napavine is located  in southwest Washington, between Olympia and Portland--a few miles south of Chehalis (see graphic).  A closer look at the terrain reveals a triangular valley (second map).  A valley with extreme and often bizarre weather.

The nearly perfect triangular shape of the valley is suggestive of supernatural influences.

 Doubtful?  You won't be in a few minutes.  During the snows last week, which low-level (below 500 ft) location got more snow than any other in western Washington?  Napavine with 25.5 inches.  Here is a picture of what things looked like on the ground:

Picture courtesy of http://napavineweather.info/wordpress/

And where was the only place in western Washington to be hit by a tornado last year?
You guessed it. Napavine.  Here is a small sample of the damage:

And in 2007 and 2009 what town, located next to a major river, experienced flooding that closed the nearby Interstate for days?  Yes, you guessed it, Napavine.

And during the extreme heat wave of July 29, 2009 where was the warmest temperatures in western Washington? Locations rising to 110 or 114F.  Yes, the Napavine triangle (see graphic located here for proof).

I could give you a long list of other examples of natural disasters in the scary Napavine triangle, but you get the message. 

And did I tell you about the Bigfoot sightings/evidence in Napavine?  Yes, it is true...here is the proof:  http://bigfootevidence.blogspot.com/2011/09/recent-sighting-report-woman-finds.html

The motto of the town is "Welcome to Napavine, for a day or a lifetime."  You better keep your eye on the sky (and the forest) if you want to do either.

     But as long as I am talking about the bizarre, I just learned of a new weather threat here in the Northwest (kudos to Dr. Brad Smull).  Burial by sand.  I AM NOT KIDDING.  Last week, there were sustained extremely strong winds along the Oregon coast, as a huge pressure gradient was maintained between high pressure over California and the low pressure systems moving eastward near the WA/OR border.   Here are the sustained winds at Newport and North Bend, Oregon (as well as Sea Tac thrown in for comparison) for the past two weeks.  One major wind event after another along the coast!  Gust were much higher.

 In some coastal towns large amounts of sand was blown by this strong winds, burying homes nearly completely.  Consider what happened in Waldport (see map),

or what is left of it.  Look at these amazing pictures by Jason Durrett:

A news video is found here. Here are a few others I found on the web:

Now those houses are basically gone!  Perhaps they will be unburied in a future age, like the buried pyramids of Giza.

PS:  A few of you have complained that I sometimes edit my blogs after I release them.  Folks..this is my style.  I write this blogs fast and then like to go back and perfect them, sometimes based on your comments.  I don't want to have multiple blogs each day, except during big storms.  Others complain that they don't like me talking about education during 1 in a few dozen blogs.  This is my personal blog, please allow me to deal with it in my own way.  There are many other weather blogs, they may be a better fit for some.