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Interesting phenomenon, but its effects have not seemed to make news in the NW so far. I've read, though, that overall the PNW has had the most extreme weather changes in the nation this year, compared to normal for this region. Hope people are paying attention.
Puerto Rico made me realize that almost any of us might unexpectedly find ourselves without food or water, effectively marooned on an island in a sea of other people also suddenly in potentially serious danger.
One reason the gulf coast likely got particularly good hurricane relief may be that the Kochs and their alliance are interested in getting their buddy Greg Abbott, governor of Texas, elected president in 2020. Here in rural Georgia my family are not counting on that degree of commitment to our wellbeing, especially as continued disasters collide with plans for giant tax cuts.
alarmed me into googling this, I found it was being talked up more by a few east coast papers a lot more than your local ones. And knew what to think. 
I've read that the PNW is warming almost twice as fast as the global average, though. I love the blessedly cool and moist climate up there (my family's from there). It'll presumably never become as normally hot up there as here in the south, but it's occurred that the relatively undramatic events (even the fires are nothing to California's) may be lulling people into underestimating their cumulative effects until those do become unpleasantly dramatic. A couple of friends in that area mostly just commiserate with us about our hurricanes with the same kind of smugness I'd love to be up there sharing.
Blame it on the wind
It looks like a local NWS guy is referring to the switch from long summer days to very short autumn and winter ones. Combine that with overcast days from the usual storms and it is accurate. This seasonal shift does feel dramatic, like a curtain pulled over the sky.
But then some reporters picked up on that name and used it to describe a storm pattern. I think you're right that they were east coasters, who are more used to storms having names and did not realize this is our typical Oct pattern.
I welcome the return of our clouds, wind and rain. I find it quite invigorating.
What was really odd about the fires, dryness and heat this summer was the stagnant smoke haze that stayed around for so long. There are usually some fires in summer and a hot east wind that blows heat over the mountains to the west (our Chinook wind is generally much milder than Santa Ana winds, though). But that combo doesn't usually lead to smoky haze for days. Something shifted, for sure.
can be double-edged in SoCal, of course.
For our first several years here in the southeast, on the first day of September, or very close to but a few times right on that very day, the hot summer weather changed to cool fall, a few weeks after would be the first light frost, and some weeks later hard frost would kill off the autumn garden.
Great fun for us coming from SoCal. There summer was when nature tried to kill you, autumn was like a nice summer, and then the sun would arc lower and cooler, the growing season would sorta stop in late November, though stuff brought to bloom continued through winter, so that was our winter. Then new growth would start up again in late January, signaling spring. New Year's Day was usually my rose trimming day, sacrificing probably hundreds of flowers and buds, while the Goodyear blimp hung over the Rose Bowl off in the distance.
Now our friends say it's very different and very trying. More have gotten rid of their lawns, and that's a good thing.
Here in the South, weather's far more erratic, but climate change seems to be wiping out more and more of spring and fall, running summer and winter highs and lows practically into each other. More like California in that respect but without the blooming winter.
Oh, well. May the PNW always stay lusciously cool and green, leaves so delicate that the sun can shine right through them, and the sun so gentle that a single poppy can bloom for a week. At least that's how I remember it.
Of summers there. They could be brutal.
My favorite month there was June, with reliable marine cover in the morning and gentle sun in the afternoon. They called it June gloom there, but I loved it.
Seasons there were subtle. Like you, I focused on what bloomed or shifted. I do miss the graceful lavender jacarandas and the flutter of yellow fan leaves drifting down from the ginkgo bilobas.
in Pasadena with a window overlooking a green area of nothing but Jacarandas and lawn, so beautifully simple and lovely at all seasons. Aside from my winter garden and no flies, mosquitoes or need for window screens, though, what I miss most often is having a Trader Joe's 5 blocks away, on the route between the freeway off-ramp and our home.
Well, looks like Seattle survived the Big Dark. Wonder if Steven King ever considered using that.
You can practically set your watch to it!
Southeast winds and often storms with a lot of precipitation of tropical origin. (Pineapple Express)
Of course, the MOTHER of all storms for the PNW, one for the history books, was The Columbus Day Storm on October 12th, 1962. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbus_Day_Storm_of_1962
