Severe Thunderstorm Warning - May 2 2009 3:54 PM PDT

On May 2 2009, scattered showers and thunderstorms developed across Northwest Oregon. There was little or no instability in the atmosphere, with low dew points and temps, so this was a surprise. One line of thunderstorms became severe with damaging winds above 50 mph, causing numerous power outages. We were not expecting strong storms today.

The storm developed as a cluster of storms west of Salem, moving north. The cluster eventually organized itself into a line and took a slight "bow" shape. This thunderstorm did move over my area, but like usual, I just got the heavy rain with distant thunder. The storm footage was not worth uploading. A warning was issued as it moved into Portland Metropolitan area containing damaging winds. A wind gust was reported downing a tree in the eastern portion of Beaverton, resulting in one fatality. Many people in the Milwuakie area reported seeing a shelf cloud and numerous funnels that may have touched down. There was a delayed report of a 63 mph wind gust with some 3/4" hail, which was recieved a few days after.

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PORTLAND HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
EASTERN WASHINGTON COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN COLUMBIA COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
NORTHWESTERN CLACKAMAS COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
WESTERN MULTNOMAH COUNTY IN NORTHWEST OREGON...
CLARK COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON...

* UNTIL 430 PM PDT.

* AT 347 PM PDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. THESE STORMS WERE LOCATED ALONG A
LINE EXTENDING FROM ROCKCREEK TO RALEIGH HILLS TO WILSONVILLE...
AND MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF POWER OUTAGES
DUE TO STRONG WIND GUSTS HAVE BEEN REPORTED ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
STORM.

* OTHER LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO SYLVAN...
THE OREGON ZOO...LAKE OSWEGO...ST. JOHNS...UNIVERSITY OF
PORTLAND...SWAN ISLAND...LLOYDS CENTER...SAUVIE ISLAND...
SELLWOOD...WEST LINN...OAK GROVE...WILSHIRE PARK...JANTZEN BEACH...
DELTA PARK...MILWAUKIE...GLADSTONE...VANCOUVER LAKE...VANCOUVER
DOWNTOWN...MT TABOR...JOHNSON CITY...PORTLAND AIRPORT...HAZEL
DELL...FELIDA...CLACKAMAS...MINNEHAHA...ROCKY BUTTE...SUNNYSIDE...
MCLOUGHLIN HEIGHTS...ELLSWORTH...SALMON CREEK...PARKROSE...HAPPY
VALLEY...CASCADE PARK...CLARK COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS...GOVERNMENT
ISLAND...VANCOUVER MALL...EVERGREEN...POWELLHURST...ORCHARDS...
DAMASCUS...ROCKWOOD...BRUSH PRAIRIE...SIFTON...PROEBSTEL...
FAIRVIEW...BORING...GRESHAM...CAMAS...LACAMAS LAKE...WOOD
VILLAGE...BATTLE GROUND...HOCKINSON...TROUTDALE...CAMP
BONNEVILLE...WASHOUGAL...SALMON FALLS...MOULTON...FARGHER LAKE...
ELKHORN MOUNTAIN...AMBOY...ALPINE AND HEISSON.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

DAMAGING WINDS UP TO 60 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM...
ESPECIALLY IN ELEVATED OR EXPOSED AREAS. OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING AND
HAIL ARE ALSO LIKELY WITH THIS STORM. THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM...
SEEK SAFE SHELTER AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

The last bow echo to ever hit the Portland Metropolitan area was on March 9 1995 I believe. These squalls are such a rare occurance.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• pacific
• northwest
• oregon
• washington
• portland
• storm
• severe
• thunderstorm
• bow
• echo
• shelf
• cloud
• wall
• funnel
• squall
• line
• wind
• damaging
• winds
• hail
• rain
• lightning
• thunder
• EAS
• emergency
• alert
• system
• warning
• weatherscan
• intellistar
• comcast
• insane
• crazy
• awesome
• weather
• gone
• wild
• not
• so
• oregon-ish

[aleigen]

3333333

[supercell1995]

@aleigen

????????

[Kadash718]

did u stay up this time, watching tv? and this happen? wierd!

[supercell1995]

What do you mean by staying up?

[coffeeandsugar20]

If you live in Portland...

Did you get interupted as many times as I did on Friday, June 6th?

[supercell1995]

I live in Hillsboro (Washington County) by the way. There were about 4 or 5 EAS cut-ins on my Comcast.

[troshs]

does anyone remember the gray screen that used to pop up with the white text? when something happened the white text scrolled across the screen telling u to turn to a certain channel to see it. i cant seem to find any videos of it anywhere. it might have just been my area but it was on SusCom cable.

[6891man]

That's a long list of names in the threatened area.

[1972FordF150]

@supercell1995 I've had 10 EAS cut in's on Comcast before. ( western Washington ) due to heavy winds and thunder storms...This was about 10 years ago.

[linutas]

@Niami777 inmagine you are watching tv in your bed at night alone and this comes up ( it is much more louder than tv program)

[phonzy98]

this is my birthday day may 2 1998

[Niami777]

The computerized voice gives more fright to the situation. 

[metalandsteel]

sorry, i thought it was am but is pm