An intense windstorm strikes western Washington and sinks a 1/2-mile-long section of the Hood Canal Bridge.
The February 13, 1979 windstorm is a natural phenomenon that took place on February 13, 1979 in Pacific Canada and the United States. During the early morning of February 13, 1979, an intense wave cyclone moved across southern Vancouver Island, British Columbia. South of the low center, a strong atmospheric pressure gradient was carried across Washington, with associated high winds. With a cold airflow moving toward the northeast interacting with the high terrain of the Olympic Mountains, a lee low developed east of the Olympics. The mesoscale low caused a particularly intense pressure gradient to develop across the Kitsap Peninsula region.