Referring primarily to western Oregon's inland valleys. The Portland basin can be a little different because of the Gorge, but the Tualatin, Willamette, Umpqua, and Rogue valleys are generally quite stagnant year-round.
"Once or twice" is a bit of an exaggeration, but Roseburg is especially ridiculous (they haven't seen a single 40+ gust since 6/1/25 although a few days show Ms). Hillsboro's last 40+ gust was all the way back on December 17th, it got 4 days 40+ last season.
Absolutely true. At least in the Seattle area, especially away from the water. Really pathetic wind gusts recently. Not even one wind gust 40+ mph at my house this past fall/winter/spring.
On the other hand, Nov 2024 bomb cyclone delivered *quite a bit* of 50-60 mph gusts in a single evening.
I'm exposed to the Cascade gaps so the distinct lack of strong winds was shocking. Normally we get a pretty decent E wind bout at some point.
Yet upper levels were cold enough for convection, plenty of towering cumulus and radar returns. So yeah it didn’t feel like 90°F but it’s the *principle of the matter*..it shouldn’t be hitting 90°F under a -2 sigma 500mb trough.
The western lowland PNW has some of the lowest average windspeeds in the entire country, I'm pretty sure. At least it does now. A 40mph gust is legitimately about a once or twice a year occurrence these days, which makes the 1950s stuff really jarring.
If you want wind, you'll find it on the coast, in the Cascade gaps, or on the eastside plateaus.