Lawd! I have NEVER seen this from the NWS before:

[luv_mykatz]

82. Wishing for safety for all of you in the path of this storm.

I live on the Left Coast. I was here during the Columbus Day Storm, in 1962. It was terrifying, and incredibly destructive. A typical West coast winter cyclone joined up with the remnants of Typhoon Freda. It created massive power outages, which lasted over a week in many areas.It damaged most of the structures in the area (over 70% in a nearby suburb). Many of the power outages and structure damage was caused by falling trees. Many trees were completely uprooted, some from the violence of the wind, and some from the rain saturated soil combined with the leaves still being on them. Window glass was blown out all over the place, including plate glass windows in store fronts.
I believe the wind we experienced was much more violent and destructive than what you will experience (peak gusts of 116 mph in Portland, Oregon; possibly 170+ mph on Mt. Hebo, on the Oregon coast). According to a 50th anniversary presentation put on by the Oregon Meteorological Society, the fierceness of the winds in the Columbus Day Storm resulted from a number of special conditions: the storms formation off northern California, inside the 130 W line; the storms path closely paralleling the coastline as it moved northward; the very rapid movement of the storm, and the channeling effect of the mountain ranges that run parallel to the Willamette Valley.
I deeply hope that the winds in this storm will not be as devastating as what we experienced in 1962.
Nonetheless: the National Weather Service sounds very serious in their warnings to all of you. The tropical energy of a hurricane, mixed with the fierceness of mid-latitude winter storms is NOT to be sneezed at! And, some areas back there could experience the additional complication of snow added to the mess, as well.
I wish all of you the very best of protection and safety throughout this potentially historic event.
And for the skeptics: after all, the best thing that could happen is that it will be not as bad as they are forecasting. So, take precautions now, and be glad to be alive to kvetch, afterward. Or, would tongue-in-cheek be more apt?