Pacific Northwest Airports Brace for ‘Bomb Cyclone’

The directive—or a variation of it—was uttered a lot at airports from Northern California to Seattle on Tuesday as the region braced for what the National Weather Service (NWS) described as a "rapidly intensifying surface low" moving toward the Pacific Northwest.

The storm, dubbed a "bomb cyclone" by weather enthusiasts, is technically the rapid intensification of a cyclone known as bombogenesis. If the approaching storm reaches the predicted metrics, forecasters said it would be stronger than the Columbus Day storm of 1962 that killed 47 people. 

"The latest sea level pressure forecast for Tuesday is scary, with an intense 952 hectopascals (hPa) low center west of the Washington coast," Cliff Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington said Sunday. "The strongest storm ever to hit the Northwest during the past century, the Columbus Day Storm of 1962, had a low-pressure center of 950 hPa."

According to the NWS,  the surface low will remain approximately 300 miles off the Washington state coast, and the tight pressure gradient will produce wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph or more from California to western Washington. 

Tuesday morning during the calm before the storm airports made plans to protect aircraft. In Pierce County, Washington, south of Seattle, officials said the airports were getting ready.

"In preparation for the wind event, businesses at Tacoma Narrows Airport [KTIW] and Pierce County Airport-Thun Field [KPLU] are moving aircraft into hangars as possible," said Anne Radford, public information specialist for Pierce County, which operates both airports. "Staff will check that remaining aircraft tied down outside are as secure as possible."

Traditionally, aircraft that remain on the ramp during a wind event are turned and positioned so their noses face into the wind, then triple chocked and triple-tied with straps attached to the wings and tail. However, if the aircraft is not intact or has been moved off the ramp, it’s not clear who is responsible for securing them. 

In the meantime, businesses battened down the hatches.

At KTIW in Gig Harbor, the staff at Narrows Aviation and its competitor, Rainier Flight Service (RFS), were working together to protect the aircraft on the field. Narrows Aviation is the largest FBO on the airport, catering to business jets. Shelby French, general manager of Narrows, offered hangar space, if needed, to Rainier, a flight school.

Rick Merrell, a commercial pilot and part of the maintenance crew at RFS, said he appreciated the offer and that the company may take advantage of it, if a recently acquired building isn't large enough to hold its fleet of 11 Cessnas. 

"The new hangar is very large and very clean," Merrell said, showing off the space, "and this afternoon we're going to get an operation with instructors and students, and we're going to safely move the aircraft inside in preparation for the storm."

Although the NWS predicted the first gusts are expected to make landfall by 7 p.m. PST, emergency text messages from county emergency services were sent earlier in the day around 1 p.m. warning about dangerous winds.

In addition to high winds, the storm is predicted to drop more than 10 inches of rain over the next several days in Northern California and southern Oregon. Also, a blizzard warning has been issued for the Cascades into the northern Sierra Nevada.