A Rare Oregon Tornado - Aumsville 12/14/2010

12/15/2010 03:42:39 PM · #1

Around 11:40am yesterday morning I heard a few loud clasps of thunder lasting a couple minutes while working on a writing project. I paid no attention until informed 15 minutes later that a tornado had struck a small town about 10 miles from my location.

We were still under a tornado warning when I left and it was raining cats and dogs when I arrived. I got soaked and my poor camera got wet again, too.

This links a gallery with some of the pictures I got... You can choose to view them in a slide show if you want.

Konica Minolta MF 85mm f/1.7

12/15/2010 03:55:15 PM · #2

Nice PJ Steve. I heard about it on the radio, but I didn't even know where Aumsville was until I looked it up.

briantammy

Olympus PEN E-P3

12/15/2010 03:56:07 PM · #3

oh dang.

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

12/15/2010 07:40:53 PM · #4

Isn't that crazy... took down two walls of the plumbing business, but left intact glass jars lined up on shelves!

We had a tornado here in WI late in November, also quite a rarity. Some crazy weather!

roba

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

12/15/2010 08:16:17 PM · #5

Originally posted by kirbic:

Isn't that crazy... took down two walls of the plumbing business, but left intact glass jars lined up on shelves!

I just read that they stayed open, even after the direct hit.

Wow... from that damage, it's hard to believe it was only an F2. Awesome that nobody was hurt :)

dtremain

Canon EOS 80D

Canon EF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 II

12/15/2010 11:26:41 PM · #6

Wow! I grew up in Oregon, and in all that time (21 years), I don't recall any tornadoes near where I lived. The 1962 Columbus Day storm was very bad, but if I remember right, that was pretty-much straight-line winds (of 100+ mph!).

Mick

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

12/16/2010 03:19:43 AM · #7

Oregon Tornado History

Steve, I saw a photo very similar to the one you posted on one of the news sites. Was it yours perhaps?

12/16/2010 07:57:32 AM · #8

Originally posted by Mick:

Oregon Tornado History

Cool link!
Only 99 tornadoes in the past half-century; so they are relatively rare out there. As a comparison, over the same period, Wisconsin experienced 1176 tornadoes (!). And we're not "tornado alley" either!

12/16/2010 11:43:03 AM · #9

Originally posted by kirbic:

Originally posted by Mick:
Oregon Tornado History

Cool link!
Only 99 tornadoes in the past half-century; so they are relatively rare out there. As a comparison, over the same period, Wisconsin experienced 1176 tornadoes (!). And we're not "tornado alley" either!

We probably only get one decent round of thunder a year, and sometimes none at all. The Pacific's influence doesn't allow for the proper conditions. It was the same in Seattle when I grew up. Lightning was a rarity and seeing some was always a very special event.

Message edited by author 2010-12-16 11:43:17.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

12/16/2010 01:41:36 PM · #10

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

It's easy for us life-long Midwesterners to forget that some of the things we just take for granted, including highly potent thunderstorms, are not a universal experience. We have storms here where there is so much lightning, the flashes are happening once per second or more. I can't imagine how an adult would feel experiencing a really severe Midwest thunderstorm for the first time.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

12/16/2010 01:48:15 PM · #11

The second-best lightning storm I've experienced was by a lake near Eugene -- many strikes, and not too far away. We were supposed to be camping, but gave up when the deluge hit. Of course, by the time we'd packed up and driven to a motel in town there was bright sunshine and a few puffy white clouds ...

FWIW there was a tornado which touched down in South San Francisco last year or the year before -- I'd never heard of one in this area before.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

12/16/2010 01:53:20 PM · #12

Originally posted by kirbic:

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

We probably only get one decent round of thunder a year, and sometimes none at all. The Pacific's influence doesn't allow for the proper conditions. It was the same in Seattle when I grew up. Lightning was a rarity and seeing some was always a very special event.

It's easy for us life-long Midwesterners to forget that some of the things we just take for granted, including highly potent thunderstorms, are not a universal experience. We have storms here where there is so much lightning, the flashes are happening once per second or more. I can't imagine how an adult would feel experiencing a really severe Midwest thunderstorm for the first time.

Yes. It's one of the things I miss from my East Coast days. That and fireflies. I joke that instead of fireflies we've got banana slugs.

I remember watching a good thunderstorm from the covered porch in Pittsburgh. Everything would be fun until you got one of those right-on-top-of-you-pushed-a-garbage-truck-off-a-skyscraper blasts. Then we'd head inside. :)

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

12/16/2010 02:06:08 PM · #13

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

Yes. It's one of the things I miss from my East Coast days. That and fireflies. I joke that instead of fireflies we've got banana slugs.

Hmmm ... if we could splice in the genes for luciferin and luciferase those slugs would make great light sticks ... :-)

12/16/2010 02:27:49 PM · #14

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by DrAchoo:
Yes. It's one of the things I miss from my East Coast days. That and fireflies. I joke that instead of fireflies we've got banana slugs.

Hmmm ... if we could splice in the genes for luciferin and luciferase those slugs would make great light sticks ... :-)

That would be awesome! Avatar in the Northwest!

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

12/16/2010 05:32:56 PM · #15

Originally posted by GeneralE:

LOL!
The *really* funny part is, I'm sure it's technically possible. It's been done with fish.

GeneralE

Canon PowerShot S3 IS

12/16/2010 05:47:35 PM · #16

Yeah -- that's what made me think of it. I think there are some glow-in-the-dark vegetables too. But I thought the slugs look just like those plastic "emergency" light sticks (especially popular around Hallowe'en) ...

Mick

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

12/16/2010 07:48:46 PM · #17

Yeah, that's all we need, KEBS (Killer Electric Banana Slugs). :)

I can see the headlines...

Killer Slugs Attack the Pacific Northwest!
Walk Slowly For Your Lives!

JuliBoc

Apple iPhone 6s+

Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

12/16/2010 07:59:21 PM · #18

Terrific shots. The ones that really got to me were the "50 years of Service" and the one with the knocked over Christmas decoration.

Bear_Music

Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Sony 24-70mm F4 Vario-Tessar T* FE OSS

12/17/2010 06:20:41 AM · #19

Originally posted by DrAchoo:

I remember watching a good thunderstorm from the covered porch in Pittsburgh. Everything would be fun until you got one of those right-on-top-of-you-pushed-a-garbage-truck-off-a-skyscraper blasts. Then we'd head inside. :)

Whoa! When I was a kid, we'd spend a month each summer in North Braddock, right outside Pittsburgh, where my mom's dad was a family doctor of the old school; 50 years in the same office with the same nurse... They lived in a big old Victorian with a wraparound veranda, and we'd play cards and monopoly out there every night; the "storm nights" were the best :-)

R.

Artifacts

Canon EOS-5D Mark II