Washington windstorm among the worst in 60 years

• Though not as powerful or destructive, a second windstorm last Friday downed more trees and slowed cleanup, NWS meteorologist Steve Reedy tells Axios.

By the numbers: In most of King County, top wind speeds were around 40 to 50 mph, but Enumclaw and Mount Rainier saw gusts of 74 and 77 mph, respectively, Reedy says.

Flashback: The 1962 Columbus Day storm is the most powerful recorded windstorm to hit the Pacific Northwest, Weather Service meteorologist Dana Felton tells Axios.

• The storm, which began as a typhoon, brought winds over 100 mph to the Washington coast and killed more than 50 people between Vancouver, B.C., and San Francisco, including nine in Washington.
• The Hanukkah Eve storm of 2006 claimed the lives of 14, including eight from carbon monoxide poisoning, and left around 1.5 million people without power for up to 11 days, per HistoryLink.
• The Inaugural Day storm of January 1993, which brought 94 mph winds to Puget Sound, left six dead and over 600,000 without power.

What happened: Last Tuesday's storm was a rare example of a mountain wave in Washington, a phenomenon more commonly seen in places like Colorado, says Felton.

• A mountain wave occurs when strong winds flow over a mountain, creating turbulent gusts with the wind going in different directions as it descends, Felton says.
• Additionally, the winds came from the east, hitting trees that have adapted to withstand winds that typically come from the southwest, he says.

What's next: The storms appear to be behind us for now, says Reedy, with the weather disturbances forecast to head south in the next few days.

• "That's going to take most of the wet weather with it and give us a dry holiday," he says.