A Stormy December Day

[AlanLichty]

We recently had a large storm off the Pacific NW coast that meteorologists called a bomb cyclone. They got quite excited by the swells off the coast that measured an average of 30 feet which almost set a new record. It didn't quite measure up to another bomb cyclone that occurred in early December of 2015 with 35' swells. That storm rearranged most of the beaches along Oregon's coast before it was done. I was out along the coast during that period looking for breaks between the storms to get out and shoot although there weren't a lot of breaks to be honest. My wanderings along the coast ranged from Patrick's Point near Trinidad CA up to the Newport area in Oregon. I got flooded out of the Sunset Bay State Park campground the night before the worst of the storm hit. Rain totals were over 12" before I finally bailed (literally) and went back to Vancouver.

This is a low tide scene from Harris Beach near Brookings Oregon taken 2 days before the swell height record was set. This was actually one of the cleaner beaches I saw that week. Up near Newport at Beverly Beach all of the beach logs were swept off of the beaches and jammed up into the creek that flows out of the State Park on the night the record swells were recorded.

C&C always welcome.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Nice one Alan. How is June for coastal images? I have a family reunion coming up at Seaaside next June.

 

[AlanLichty]

Nice one Alan. How is June for coastal images? I have a family reunion coming up at Seaside next June.

June is kind of an in between month where things are generally calming down from the winter storms but can also be dead calm or stormy. Seaside itself can be a bit on the bland side with sandy beaches and no sea stacks stretching north to the mouth of the Columbia but Tillamook Head is just south of town along with Ecola State Park and Cannon Beach. Not sure how much free time you will have for forays down to the Cannon Beach area but you also have Arcadia Beach and Hug Point just south of town for good sea stack scenes.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Thanks Alan. My wife says we have to spend a night at Yachats on our way home.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

You captured the action well - that bird near the splash is a nice twist to this image.

 

[AlanLichty]

Thanks Alan. My wife says we have to spend a night at Yachats on our way home.

Yachats is much more interesting than Seaside for photo opportunities

You captured the action well - that bird near the splash is a nice twist to this image.

Thanks Jameel - pure chance to catch the gull swooping past in the scene. They are quite feint at this resolution but there are two more gulls in the distance in the frame.

 

[JimFox]

That’s a really cool scene Alan, and I enjoyed the backstory.

 

[AlanLichty]

That’s a really cool scene Alan, and I enjoyed the backstory.

Thanks Jim - I wish I had more images from that trip and especially of the really big waves that hit but it's hard to shoot in sideways rain. I did make some amateurish attempts at shooting video of the logs being shoved up into Spencer Creek by the waves but haven't really tried to splice the pieces together.