Biggest Oregon Coast News Stories, Developments of the Year

Published 01/05/2014

(Oregon Coast) – What were the biggest news stories of 2013 on the Oregon coast? Quite a bit made quite a splash along the beaches during the year, although it wound up not as eventful as some previous years. Again, it was always the weird science of the coast that got the most attention or made the biggest impressions, although often what got the most hits on Oregon Coast Beach Connection were stories about crazy weather.

2013 started with some alarming news about invasive species and gas canisters from domestic-based boats. Tsunami debris has been sneaking up onto the beaches for a over a year, and what floats in on these is still a worry. But among the craziest concerns was a rash of gas canisters from U.S. vessels that could've caused harm.

Luckily, no such incidents occurred.

In March, a bunch of rather poignant tsunami debris from the Japanese quake of 2011 washed up. It started with one kasagi in Oceanside – part of a torri, a sacred arch that is part of the entrance to a spiritually significant spot in Japanese culture. Later, more such parts were found in Oceanside, Gleneden Beach and near the south jetty of the Suislaw River in Florence.

A boat from the Japanese tsunami of 2011 that landed on the Long Beach Peninsula of Washington - also in March - had a few living surprises. One of them was a Striped Beakfish (Oplegnathus fasciatus), which went on display at the Seaside Aquarium on the north Oregon coast in April. (photo above courtesy Seaside Aquarium).

The Striped Beakfish literally traveled 4,000 miles to get here, taking two years to arrive in the northwest.

In July, the cannon that gave Cannon Beach its name left the state for a few years of intense study and renovation by scientists. More at Cannon That Gave Oregon Coast Town Its Name Leaves the State.

Another hugely popular story on OCBC was about a renaissance at tiny Neskowin, on the north coast. The town was without a store or restaurant and things were sliding down hill economically. But some business heroes came to save the day.

Again on the good news side, a hugely popular story was about the massive migrations of dragonflies on the coast in September. This one was unusually large, said many observers.

Record rainfall was the new normal all across Oregon in much of September, but the Oregon coast especially saw some wild weather. High winds up to around 70 mph in some places, a few power outages, some striking lightning storms and a high surf advisory were typical along the beaches.

This even caused the cancellation of SOLVE's Beach Cleanup - a startling first.

Astoria saw a record 10.51 inches of rain on one weekend. The all time highest for September in the north Oregon coast town was 8.66 inches over 100 years ago in 1906. This was, keep in mind, the area Lewis & Clark camped out in 100 years before that, reporting that it rained all but a few days of the three months they were there.

Another huge story was a rather dire prediction to come out of the Oregon coast regarding the future of the world's oceans. A new study contributed to by Oregon State University and the Hatfield Marine Science Center on the central Oregon coast says climate change will gravely impact most of the Earth's oceans by the year 2100, creating a domino effect of biological and economic disasters.

Several stories made an incredibly large impression regarding the International Space Station being seen above Oregon, and a host of updates about the possibilities of aurora borealis, meteors, fireballs and other phenomena that happened far above the beaches. One such major set sightings happened in October and included glowing sand. (Above: the ISS flies over Portland).

One huge development is something that has thankfully not materialized on this coast. A nasty little disease called Sea Star Wasting Disease has attacked populations of the attractive little creatures in some major ways in California British Columbia and parts of the northern Washington coast. Luckily, it has not shown up here, but officials are keeping a fierce lookout.

Other extremely popular articles this year include research out of the Hatfield regarding the genetic makeup of certain groups of whales, four really freaky facts you didn't know about the coast, and many of the various science articles found at the Oregon Coast Science section.

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