The story cites the trees as having come from Olympic National Forest, which is the only temperate rainforest in the US - and as Erogenous and Cagey point out, the weather in the Pacific Northwest can be dodgy at any time of year. La Push, Washington, is something like 10 miles south of the Juan de Fuca Straits on the Pacific coast of Washington. The west coast of the lower 48 has had an uncharacteristically cool summer, unlike the midwest and the eastern seaboard, which have been in heatwave hell. August clothes are anything that protects you from the rain up yonder.
As for the very large cedar, the rootball is the point on the tree that is the widest in diameter, and thus when the tide comes in, it is the end that will ground first on the beach...and the narrower upper portion of the tree bole will continue to float inland. No magic there. Many of the other logs are much smaller,so they are not so pronouncedly affected.
Finally, yes, I sure would dig a guitar with a top made of cedar rescued from a gale!
peace
Bagman
