The October 2016 storm series

What happened

A strong low moved up the coast on October 13, bringing high winds to the Oregon coast, the Coast Range and the north Willamette Valley. Pacific City gusted to 69 mph, Port Orford to 70 mph and Cape Disappointment to 72 mph, and Marys Peak in the Coast Range reached 92 mph.

Unstable air behind that front built thunderstorms on the morning of the 14th. One produced an EF-2 tornado, with winds estimated at 125 to 130 mph, that came ashore as a waterspout and crossed Manzanita. Cape Meares gusted to 79 mph, and a fast squall in northeast Oregon gusted to 78 mph near Cayuse.

A deepening low followed on October 15. Port Orford hit 78 mph, Cape Disappointment 79 mph and Marys Peak 102 mph. Western Washington was under a high wind warning both days but got less than forecast; the Seattle office notes little high wind on the 14th, yet trees still fell near Olympia and in Lakewood on the 15th.

The storm in NOAA’s numbers

NOAA’s Storm Events Database files this storm as 13 episodes from the National Weather Service offices in Medford (MFR), Spokane (OTX), Pendleton (PDT), Portland (PQR) and Seattle (SEW), dated October 13–15, 2016. Counting the six tree-relevant report types (high wind, strong wind, thunderstorm wind, ice storm, winter storm and heavy snow), the episodes hold 53 reports: 38 high wind, 8 strong wind and 7 thunderstorm wind (29 in Oregon; 24 in Washington). The same episodes hold 9 other reports (debris flow 5, tornado 2, heavy rain 1, hail 1), which are not counted in that total. The highest gust among the wind reports is 69 knots (about 79 mph), measured, in Tillamook County, Oregon. 2 reports in these episodes appear to carry the gust in mph in NOAA’s knots field (the narrative quotes the same number in mph), so they are converted here. Of the counted reports, 20 mention trees in the narrative.

A report is one entry per forecast zone or county per event, so one storm crossing many zones produces many reports. Gusts are in knots as NOAA records them (1 kt is about 1.15 mph).

Affected counties

42 counties have at least one counted report (21 in Oregon; 21 in Washington). The most reports touched Clatsop County, OR (6), Curry County, OR (5) and Lane County, OR (5). Most wind, ice and snow reports are filed by forecast zone, and a zone report is assigned here to every county that zone covers, so a county’s number is the reports that touched it, not separate incidents.

Damage, deaths and injuries

NOAA’s property damage field for these episodes adds up to $6.4 million in nominal dollars, as entered by the NWS offices at the time and not adjusted for inflation. Of that, $5.4 million is on the counted wind, ice and snow reports and $1 million on other report types in the same episodes. The event records list no deaths or injuries across these episodes.

One report carries most of the $6.4 million: $5 million for the central Willamette Valley on October 13. The Manzanita tornado added $1 million (a tornado report, outside the six types counted). Wind reports for the Portland metro and the central valley on the 15th add $148,000 and $118,000. NOAA records no deaths or injuries.

What it meant for trees

In the Portland metro on the 15th, many trees came down on roads, houses and lines, more than 20,000 customers lost power and light rail was disrupted. Trees closed Highway 18 near Grand Ronde, Highway 47 and Highway 46, and fell south of Dayton, west of Carlton, near Autzen Stadium in Eugene and across roads in Vancouver. Near Brookings a spotter lost three oaks 8 to 10 inches thick, and an 80-foot pine fell on a manufactured home.

Near Olympia a large fir split a house in two, and trees fell on cars in a Lakewood apartment lot. Mid-October storms arrive before most broadleaf trees drop their leaves, which gives the wind a fuller crown to push against.

What homeowners can learn from it

• Fall storms come in clusters. When a series is forecast, use the gap between storms to move cars and clear what is already broken, and stay away from trees that shifted in the first storm; a tree loosened on Thursday can come down on Saturday.
• Coast and Coast Range trees take the highest gusts. Have large trees near the house checked before October; see tree risk assessment.
• Photograph before anything is moved. Pictures of the tree, the stump or root plate and the damage are the evidence an insurer will want; storm damage and tree insurance in Oregon and storm damage and tree insurance in Washington explain what policies usually cover.
• If a tree is on the house, a car or a line, get people out of reach first. Then call the utility for anything touching wires; emergency tree service and fallen tree removal cover what happens next, and tree work safety explains why a crew should handle trees under tension.

Local pages: emergency tree service in Portland, Eugene, Vancouver and Olympia. Before the next storm season, the tree risk checklist walks you around your own trees, and Oregon storm records and Washington storm records put this storm in context.

How this page was built

Every number above is computed from NOAA’s Storm Events bulk files for episodes 111130, 109770, 111145, 110762, 110764, 109621, 109717, 110967, 111147, 110971, 109715, 110970, 109772. Episodes were chosen by ranking all Washington and Oregon episodes from 2016 to mid-2026 on tree-relevant report counts, property damage and tree mentions, and episodes from different offices or states were merged when their narratives describe the same system on the same dates. NOAA files these three days as 13 episodes across five offices; this page treats them as one storm series. Debris flow and tornado reports in the same episodes are not counted. Damage figures are NOAA’s nominal-dollar estimates and are often blank. See all storms on the storm history index and the site’s methodology.