Following the 8.9 earthquake off the coast of Japan, the National Weather Service just issued a tsunami watch for the Washington and Oregon coasts:

A TSUNAMI WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE SOUTH WASHINGTON AND NORTH AND CENTRAL OREGON COASTS AT 1130 PM PST. AN EARTHQUAKE WITH PRELIMINARY MAGNITUDE OF 8.9 WAS DETECTED ON THE EAST COAST OF JAPAN. ARRIVAL OF AN INITIAL WAVE IS ESTIMATED TO ARRIVE AROUND 724 AM FRIDAY FOR THE WASHINGTON AND OREGON COASTS. STAND BY FOR UPDATES.

12 replies on “Tsunami Watch Issued for Washington and Oregon Coasts”

  1. Thank you for posting this. It’s interesting that NWS Seattle is issuing its own watch; ordinarily this would come from the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center, which is still showing no watch/advisory/warning for the west coast of North America. WC/ATWC is also still showing the Japan earthquake magnitude at 7.9 instead of 8.9, which is what everyone else has it at. My guess is that the duty geophysicist at WC/ATWC looked at the initial magnitude, saw it wasn’t big enough to cause problems in North America, and went to bed; now NWS locations along the west coast are going to monitor the situation until they can wake up that geophysicist. Trouble is, local authorities probably aren’t expecting to get their tsunami warnings from NWS, but from WC/ATWC, and that might lead to slow response times.

  3. P.S. it’s worth mentioning what the terminology means, per the above: a tsunami “watch” such as is in effect on the entire west coast suggests no action, just continued alertness pending cancellation or upgrade.

    The higher alert level of “advisory” (as is the case in coastal Alaska right now) suggests coastal residents get and keep out of the water and move away from coastal beaches, harbors and marinas. Still, “significant widespread inundation is not expected for areas under an advisory.”

  6. Thanks for news of the upgrade to “advisory”, @4 – since you’re unregistered here’s the link:
    http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/total_forecast/g…

    RECOMMENDED ACTIONS
    A TSUNAMI HAS BEEN GENERATED WHICH IS EXPECTED TO CAUSE DAMAGE TO THE WARNING AND/OR ADVISORY REGIONS LISTED IN THE HEADLINE.
    PERSONS IN LOW-LYING COASTAL AREAS SHOULD BE ALERT TO INSTRUCTIONS FROM THEIR LOCAL EMERGENCY OFFICIALS. EVACUATIONS ARE ONLY ORDERED BY EMERGENCY RESPONSE AGENCIES.
    – PERSONS IN TSUNAMI WARNING COASTAL AREAS SHOULD MOVE INLAND TO HIGHER GROUND.

    – PERSONS IN TSUNAMI ADVISORY COASTAL AREAS SHOULD MOVE OUT OF THE WATER… OFF THE BEACH AND OUT OF HARBORS AND MARINAS.

  10. Hope you’re all OK and on high ground–worried for the folks in Ozette & elsewhere along the Olympic coast. What happens to a tsunami when it goes through the strait of Juan de Fuca?

  11. the tsnumai in hawai and the mallukas was a lot smaller than expected (only half a meter) but since very litle is understood about what makes tsunamis bigger and smaller i wouldnt take my chances yet.

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