The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 (also known as the Big Blow, and originally, and in Canada as Typhoon Freda) was a Pacific Northwest windstorm that struck the West Coast of Canada and the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States on October 12, 1962. Typhoon Freda was the twenty-eighth tropical depression, the twenty-third tropical storm, and the eighteenth typhoon of the 1962 Pacific typhoon season. Freda originated from a tropical disturbance over the Northwest Pacific on September 28. On October 3, the system strengthened into a tropical storm and was given the name Freda, before becoming a typhoon later that day, while moving northeastward. The storm quickly intensified, reaching its peak as a Category 3-equivalent typhoon on October 5, with maximum 1-minute sustained winds of and a minimum central pressure of . Freda maintained its intensity for another day, before beginning to gradually weaken, later on October 6. On October 9, Freda weakened into a tropical storm, before transitioning into an extratropical cyclone on the next day. On October 11, Freda turned eastward and accelerated across the North Pacific, before striking the Pacific Northwest on the next day. On October 13, the cyclone made landfall on Washington and Vancouver Island, and then curved northwestward. Afterward, the system moved into Canada and weakened, before being absorbed by another developing storm to the south on October 17. The Columbus Day Storm of 1962 is considered to be the benchmark of extratropical wind storms. The storm ranks among the most intense to strike the region since at least 1948, likely since the January 9, 1880 "Great Gale" and snowstorm. The storm is a contender for the title of the most powerful extratropical cyclone recorded in the U.S. in the 20th century; with respect to wind velocity, it is unmatched by the March 1993 "Storm of the Century" and the "1991 Halloween Nor'easter" ("The Perfect Storm"). The system brought strong winds to the Pacific Northwest and southwest Canada, and was linked to 46 fatalities in the northwest and Northern California resulting from heavy rains and mudslides.
Meteorological history
On the morning of September 28, a tropical disturbance formed south of the island of Eniwetok Atoll. After moving westward and making a large bend around the island, the new system slowly gained strength, and on the morning of October 3, the system became a tropical storm about from Wake Island, over the central Pacific Ocean. Now named Freda, the system rapidly intensified as it proceeded northeastward over the open Pacific waters. On that afternoon, Freda intensified into a typhoon, with 1-minute sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km/h). On October 4, the typhoon quickly intensified, reaching its peak of 115 mph (185 km/h) on the next day, with a minimum central pressure of , making the storm the equivalent of a Category 3 typhoon on the Saffir–Simpson scale. After stabilizing to the north, Freda maintained its strength through the Pacific, before beginning to weaken slowly on October 6. Making a turn to the northeast, Freda maintained typhoon-status winds for several more days, before weakening into a tropical storm on October 9, as it started experiencing the effects of cold air.
Moving northeastward at a steady rate of , the storm slowly underwent an extratropical transition, becoming extratropical operationally on the morning of October 10, still with winds of 45 mph (65 km/h). The system became an extratropical cyclone as it moved into colder waters and interacted with the jet stream. However, post-season analysis concluded that the system continued weakening as it continued northeastward, crossing the 180th meridian later that afternoon, before completing the transition that evening.