Winter weather arrives to Pacific Northwest
Tornado Blasts Oregon Coast
By Joseph Friedrichs, 11-09-09
A number of trees were ravaged by recent storms on the Oregon Coast. Photo by Joseph Friedrichs.
Weather is the topic of many conversations throughout Oregon as the week begins, with massive amounts of snowfall dropping in the Cascades and wind and heavy rain blasting the coast.
“I was planning a trip to Portland to visit some friends but called it off this morning,” Randal Rosbury told me this morning outside of Newport Market. “If I had snow tires, maybe. But it sounds pretty nasty up there.”
Redmond resident Kelly Lamon said her car nearly slid from the road when driving to Sunriver this weekend.
“It was terrible Sunday morning,” she said. “It didn’t look icy but the roads were terrible.”
And while there’s nothing unusual about snow dropping in the mountains at this time of year, a rare event took place during the weekend in Lincoln City. It was a tornado. And the spinning strand of energy scared the wits out of a collection of Oregonians.
The National Weather Service confirmed this weekend that a tornado tore through the coastal town, damaging about a dozen homes. The Friday night tornado packed winds that reached 85 mph, according to the NWS. The destruction path of the twister was 150 yards long and 80 yards wide.
Pacific Power representatives said about 350 homes were without electricity as a result of the weekend storm. No injuries were reported.
Tornadoes are rare weather events in Oregon, particularly in Deschutes County. There have been only two official reports of a tornado in the past 50 years in the county, one blasting through in June 1983 and the other in August 1989. In Oregon’s history there have been six deaths caused by tornadoes, all of those coming in the late 1800s. In comparison, 113 people died and 900 were injured during a tornado April 9, 1947 in Woodward, Oklahoma.
Harsh winter-style weather is expected throughout Oregon during the next several days.
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