If it were winter in beautiful Sunriver, Oregon, you’d expect to see piles of white snow.
But this is August 2014.
And this picture shows a massive pile of hail!
The thunderstorm hit shortly after 7pm at the end of a picture perfect summer day in central Oregon.
I knew something was up when I checked the satellite map as I was at home waiting for some kids clothes to come out of the drier.
See the big ‘blob’ in the center of the image? It’s fairly typical of how a massive thunderstorm (or group of them) appear from space. They stand out because the cloud tops shoot higher in the sky than others, creating that brighter, pillowy looking shape.
Anyway, when I saw this, I texted my friend Mike who is on vacation in Sunriver.
Me: “You guys seeing storm clouds over there?”
Mike: “Just a little.” Then he sent this picture of the pouring rain.
Nice, I appreciate his sense of humor!
Then he started texting about marble sized hail–and sending images of outdoor tables suddenly abandoned by families that had to make a run for it as the hail hit.
Next thing I knew, the Twitter hashtag #sunriver just exploded with incredible shots–and some funny comments. Here are a few!
And the funniest tweet of the day goes to…
You know, it kind of looked that way!
It’s been a really interesting summer. Lots of dry and warm weather west of the Cascades and a whole bunch of thunderstorms firing over Central & Eastern Oregon.
This storm, by the way, continued to move north and produced an incredible light show over Central Oregon for the next few hours.
And all along its path, the storm quickly dropped temperatures from hot to chilly.
Be jealous of watching the storm here in Sunriver, but don’t be jealous of being stuck out in the hailstorm at the tail end of a bike ride….I have the bruises & welts to prove I was pelted by hail!!!! My husband, 10 year old & I took cover in some trees. After waiting out the hail, we made it to the safety of a house on Deschutes Lane….We are ever grateful to Bill & Carolyn for taking us into their home, helping us dry off, letting our 10 year old take a hot shower, giving us hot tea & dry clothes before driving us back to out vacation home….They truly are our Sunriver heroes!!! (Tomorrow we’re heading back home to Milwaukie, but we will always remember our Sunriver thunderstorm experience!!!)
Angie:
Oh my gosh, thank you for sharing your incredible story!
I never thought about being too far from your cabin when the storm suddenly came up. Sorry about the welts and bruises and so glad someone took you guys in.
That will be the vacation story of vacation stories…hope the rest of your trip was sunny!
Bruce
Sorry your not on Koin . They chose poorly, miss you and Kelly both! best of luck to you both. Stopped watching KOIN and let them know why.