By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
Tuesday, February 7, 2023
Weather
We had another decent front move thru this morning bringing some rain and winds across the region. Once the front passed thru, we saw some scattered showers that will persist tonight, then start to become more widely scattered after midnight. Winds tonight southwesterly 5-10, the low down near 37, and the snow level dropping to near 2400’.
A ridge of high pressure moves in tomorrow morning, putting an end to any remaining showers, and bringing partly sunny skies, with high temperatures around 50. Look for mostly cloudy skies tomorrow night, the winds becoming easterly 5-10, lows near 38.
By Thursday evening we see another disturbance bringing increasing clouds after a partly sunny start, then Thursday evening a slight chance of rain develops with rain likely by Thursday night, winds easterly 5-10 becoming southerly in the afternoon then light and variable that night, highs near 58, lows near 43.
Friday looks rainy in the morning then we transition to showers for the afternoon that persist thru Friday night, highs near 50, lows near 39.
As for the weekend, the models are still sending some mixed signals. It still appears though that a low pressure area will develop and dive into California that still manages to give us a chance of showers Saturday then by Sunday the low pushes well inland and the chance of precipitation eases some, but by Monday a strong westerly flow likely pushes in another disturbance that brings more rain and winds. Highs around 51, lows around 39.
Earthquakes and Tsunamis on this date…WHERE?
Did you know that on this date back in 1812 there was a strong series of earthquakes near Missouri that actually caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards, also known as a Fluvial Tsunami!
The seismic activity actually began around 2 pm December 16, 1811 when a decent tremor rocked the New Madrid area. At 7:15 am, an even more powerful 8.6 quake struck, knocking people off their feet. Fortunately back then that area was not heavily populated so the death toll from this strong earthquake was relatively low.
The quake also caused mudslides that destroyed several communities and also caused some fissures to open up, large trees were snapped in two, and river banks were destroyed causing extensive flooding.
On January 23rd, 1812 another 8.4 quake struck pretty much the same area causing more damage then, on February 7th, an estimated 8.8 quake struck that caused church bells to ring as far away as Boston, some brick walls even collapsed in Cincinnati. The Mississippi River turned brown, and whirlpools developed from depressions in the riverbed, boats were thrown killing people on board and many of the small islands in the middle of the river disappeared. It was reported all this caused the Mississippi River to flow backwards in some areas. The Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee and the Big Lake in Arkansas were created from these quakes.
The series of large quakes ended in March although the aftershocks lasted for a few years. It is estimated that 1,000 people died from this but the actual number is difficult to determine because of the lack of accurate records.
Experts predict that area could see a magnitude 7.0 earthquake in the next 50 years. Currently there are an estimated 45 million people living in the area that would be most impacted. The area includes Memphis, St. Louis and Little Rock. Like us, they are trying to prepare their area and residents for the Big One as well!