The waves are getting bigger and we’re not referring to heat waves covering the United States. A dangerous stretch of water that spans Washington and Oregon coasts is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific.” The Washington Post reported that a million cubic feet of water per second collides with 20 to 30 foot swells over a 4-mile stretch of shifting sand. Columbia River barge pilots have expressed that ocean waves were becoming larger and more powerful in the ‘Graveyard.” Researchers at Oregon State University report that buoy data verifies the height of the biggest waves, off the coast, has increased from 4 inches per year to 10 feet over the last 30 years. Changing storm tracks, high winds and intense winter storms could be the reasons. It's been a couple of weeks since our last episode of Heat Advisories. Summertime in Western Pennsylvania certainly registered some hot days. I remember my mother instructing me to “fill the washtub” so that my brother Kevin would get a “cool-down” during some blistering weather in Pennsylvania. That same wash tub was also used to ice down beer and pop for summertime events. The washtub became obsolete when inflatable pools came along and another invention – the lawn sprinkler - offered another quick cool-down as we dashed through it. As we got older, the Ewing Park Swimming Pool provided heat relief. One of the best gifts to the neighborhood was the decision by the Shultz and the Lutz families to install backyard pools.