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Pacific Northwest Airports Brace for ‘Bomb Cyclone’

Facilities make plans to protect aircraft, including triple chocking and tying them down with straps attached to the wings and tail.

Airports from Northern California to Seattle braced for what the National Weather Service described as a "rapidly intensifying surface low" moving toward the region. [Courtesy: Meg Godlewski]
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Key Takeaways:

  • The Pacific Northwest is bracing for a "bomb cyclone" (bombogenesis), a rapidly intensifying surface low predicted to be stronger than the deadly 1962 Columbus Day storm.
  • The storm is expected to bring severe impacts, including wind gusts of 60-70 mph or more across the region, heavy rain in Northern California and southern Oregon, and blizzard conditions in the Cascades and Sierra Nevada.
  • Airports from Northern California to Seattle are implementing extensive precautions, directing staff to secure outdoor objects, charge devices, and move aircraft into hangars, with FBOs even cooperating to protect aircraft fleets.
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“Secure outdoor objects, charge your devices, and get everything in the hangar that will fit.”

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.

Meg Godlewski

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.

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