Portland's Major Windstorms and Ice Storms Since 1962, and What Each One Did to Houses
The Portland metro does not get hurricanes or tornadoes. It gets something slower and, for a house, often worse: winter windstorms off the Pacific, and every few years an east wind ice storm that coats every tree, gutter and roof edge for days. This is the record of the ones that mattered, each anchored to an official source, with a note on the kind of damage that followed.
- 116 mph
- Portland's record gust, Columbus Day 1962, near the Morrison Bridge
- 421,649
- PGE customers who lost power in the February 2021 ice storm
- 4
- federal disaster declarations for winter storms in the metro since 2012 (2012, 2021, 2024, 2025)
- 3 of 4
- of the most recent declared events were ice or freezing rain, not wind
The events
Facts marked "Verified from source" were read directly from the linked official page during our review. Facts marked "From cited source" are carried from the linked NOAA, university or federal document and can be checked at the link.
Columbus Day Storm Verified from source
What it did to houses: The reference event for the region. Roofs peeled, thousands of large trees fell on houses, and power was out for weeks in places. Every wind design number in the modern building code for this area is measured against it.
Source: Oregon State University
December 12, 1995 windstorm From cited source
What it did to houses: The strongest valley windstorm since 1962. Falling trees did most of the structural damage; wind driven rain at the coast pushed water past flashing that had never leaked before.
January 2004 snow and ice storm From cited source
What it did to houses: A week of ice load on gutters, tree limbs and roof edges. Gutters pulled loose under ice weight and ice dams pushed meltwater under shingles on low slope roofs.
Source: NOAA Storm Data, January 2004; American Meteorological Society conference summary
Hanukkah Eve windstorm From cited source
What it did to houses: Mostly a Puget Sound event but strong enough in the Portland metro to bring down trees and strip roofing on exposed east side homes.
December 2008 arctic blast From cited source
What it did to houses: Two weeks of freeze and thaw. Roof snow load was rarely the problem; the damage came from ice dams, frozen gutters and burst pipes in uninsulated walls.
January 2012 snow, wind and flooding From cited source
What it did to houses: Heavy rain on snowpack. Saturated soils, slides, and water in crawlspaces that had never flooded.
February 2021 ice storm Verified from source
What it did to houses: The worst ice event in the metro in a generation. Ice loaded trees broke onto roofs, decks and siding across Clackamas County; gutters and fascia tore away under the weight; power was out for a week or more in the hardest hit neighborhoods.
Source: Portland General Electric; Oregon Department of Emergency Management, DR 4599
January 2024 ice storm Verified from source
What it did to houses: Freezing rain over several days on top of an east wind. Trees and limbs down across the metro, roof and gutter damage from ice, and a spike in dry rot found the following summer where ice dammed meltwater had run behind siding.
Source: Office of the Governor, January 18, 2024; Oregon Department of Emergency Management, DR 4768
December 2025 wind and atmospheric river storms Verified from source
What it did to houses: Wind and saturation together. Wind pulled loose siding and roofing, then days of rain found every opening it made. Clackamas County homes on slopes saw drainage failures and crawlspace flooding.
What the pattern means for a house here
Windstorms are a coast and valley event: the record gusts are all on the coast or at the west edge of the valley, and in the metro the damage is mostly trees on roofs and stripped roofing on exposed east side homes. Ice storms are the opposite. They arrive on an east wind through the Columbia Gorge, so Gresham, Troutdale, Wood Village, Camas and Washougal ice first and hardest, then Clackamas County, then the rest of the metro.
The costly damage from ice is rarely the day the ice falls. It is the gutters and fascia that pulled away under the load, the shingles lifted by ice dams, and the water that ran behind siding during the thaw. That damage shows up as dry rot and stained drywall the following summer, and by then the insurance claim window is usually closed. The single most useful thing a homeowner can do after any of these events is a walk around the house with a camera the day the weather clears.
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