Taholah, WA Coastal Erosion Rate
What USGS measures 1.2 miles northwest of Taholah, WA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 1.2 miles northwest of Taholah, WA, at 0.61 feet of erosion a year on average, a long-term rate for this specific ~3.5-mile section, not one storm's damage. At that rate, the shoreline has lost roughly 6.1 feet over the last decade.
The grain of this number
USGS surveys the coast in transects spaced a few hundred feet apart; this page groups the nearest ones into a single ~3.5-mile reading for the stretch closest to Taholah, WA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 47.34, -124.29. The survey behind it runs to 2002-2011, in USGS's Pacific Northwest assessment, using the LRR method. Shoreline surveys aren't repeated every year, so this is the most recent long-term measurement USGS has published for this coast, not a live reading.
What 0.61 ft/yr means over time
Run 1.2 miles northwest of Taholah, WA's 0.61 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 15 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
How solid is this number
This reading comes from 71 individual transects averaged together, 100% of which measured erosion rather than growth. Uncertainty on this specific number: 0.37 ft/yr either side. This segment ranks 262 of 1211 measured US coastal segments, ordered from fastest erosion to fastest growth. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2012-1008. Rank 79 nationally for erosion belongs to Gilgo, NY, 2527 miles from this stretch, measured at 3.62 ft/yr, 5.9x this stretch's rate. 1.3 miles up the coast, Taholah, WA shows 0.57 ft/yr of eroding.
One address near Taholah: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal zooms past this stretch to the underlying map.