Storm Break | Pacific Beach, WA | January 2020
Sea Visit | Yipes! This is the non-stop wind and wet we’ve always heard the Pacific Coast can deliver. Multiple storm fronts have hit in the last three days — hurricane-force winds, sideways downpours, darkened skies, twilight at noon. Beachcombers in big pickup trucks drive the shoreline before daylight to find high tide’s treasures (floats, bumpers, ropes, hatch covers). Locals in T-shirts and shorts walk slowly through sheets of rain while checking their phones. We dress, instead, in thermal layers topped by rubber parkas to run the dog in foamy waves. Without a doubt, the best thing about stormy weather is the enforced leisure — reading, eating, napping, snuggling. Oh, and marveling at forces beyond our control, realizing we’re the tiniest specks (wearing raincoats) within a great whirling world.
[In photo: During a sun break, we discover that parts of the beach were reshaped overnight by powerful surf.]
IrwinFoto 