On Saturday we experienced the most bizarre weather event we can remember in the 10 years we have lived in Oregon. At 3:45 pm a cold front moved over our area in Beaverton, Oregon and for about 5 minutes we experienced a 1/4 inch of rain with 50 mile per hour winds.
Bertha was home with the kids and described the sudden event on par with one of the worst rain and wind storms experienced while living in Malaysia. Jeff was driving down highway 217 in Beaverton and described the sudden pounding rain and hail as making it impossible to see out the windshield of the car for the better part of three minutes. Windshield wipers on high couldn't not sweep the rain and hail away fast enough to see. After the mini monsoon passed, Jeff counted 50 cars on the side of the road during the last 1/2 mile he drove home.
After five minutes the storm had moved on to the northeast and left a trail of snapped trees within a few blocks of our home in Beaverton. See above pictures Jeff took of blown over trees in the neighborhood.
Below is an article which ran in the local paper this morning describing the brief storm.
Here is a radar picture of the storm as it passed over Beaverton. The area in red under the X is where we live.
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| From Five Minute Storm In Beaverton, Oregon - May 2, 2009 |
Sudden, severe thunderstorm slams Beaverton
| 5/2/2009, 7:09 p.m. PDTThe Associated Press |
(AP) — BEAVERTON, Ore. - A sudden, severe thunderstorm hit Beaverton, cutting power to thousands, killing one person and capsizing two sailboats.
One person died Saturday afternoon when a tree or branch fell on a car on Southwest Barbur Boulevard. He was not immediately identified.
The National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Washington, Columbia, Clackamas, Multnomah and Clark counties.
Power went out to about 30,000 customers of Portland General Electric, mostly in Beaverton, Lake Oswego and Tigard.
