Saturday's Weather Surprises

First, a close-up of the sweetest surprise, as seen from our kitchen window. I hope lots of Portlanders got to see this beauty which hung around for a few minutes. Looking from inside the arc, I see purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. Maybe the seventh color, indigo, is there, but I can't say for sure.


Now, a close-up of the rain and hail that arrived with a shocking swiftness and well before the huge rainbow.


Not long before 4 p.m., looking out the window beside Mama's recliner where she sat taking a nap, I noticed it had started to rain, so I stood up to check the open window there and in the kitchen--not raining in either one. Then I walked into the bathroom to check that window. Pulling it shut against increasing rain drops, I turned to head back to the living room. Before I could get out the bathroom door and into the hall, I heard hail blasting the windows, blasting with sound but not breaking the glass though I have no doubt that if it had been larger hail, broken glass would have resulted. When I stepped back into the living room, the screeching had woke Mama. In a matter of minutes--Mama and I estimate four at the most--the rain left us surrounded by quiet--until lightning and thunder that must have been nearly right above us jolted us. Then a few minutes later the TV broadcasted a severe thunderstorm warning for all of the metropolitan counties. We later learned on the evening news that trees were down across the area, and 30,000 were without electricity. On Sunday at 5 p.m. 1,800 still did not have power. This is not Portland weather--its' more like what we were used to in Mississippi.

Not long after the severe thunderstorm warning, I noticed darkening skies in the distance, first out a living room window ...


... then out the kitchen window. Wistfully, I said to Mama, "There must be a rainbow somewhere."


An hour and a half later as I walked by the kitchen window, I glanced out and hollered, "Oh, there's a rainbow!" Quickly I grabbed my camera, sat at the window and took picture after picture, hoping to get a good one of the widest rainbow I can remember.

It disappeared behind the Rose Plaza on the north ...


... and another apartment building a block away to the south.

Weather changes, March 30, 2008, from 04:51.42 p.m. through 4:57.51 p.m., outside our kitchen window.

4:51:42 p.m. By the time I decided to get the camera, it had been hailing long enough to coat the roof of this parked car and change the color of the soil in the bed at the foot of the Elizabeth Apartments from solid brown to near white. I raised the kitchen window and started taking photos.

4:51:59 p.m. The Elizabeth is directly across NW 22nd Avenue.

4:52.13 p.m. The Rose Plaza is diagonally across the intersection of NW Everett and NW 22nd.

4:57.16 p.m. The sun came out as quickly as the hail had started earlier.

4:57.51 p.m. The hail on the fire escape melted from opaque ice balls to shiny wetness in the bright sunshine.

This was the third or fourth day in a row that I'd seen hail, followed by bright sun. Finally, a visual definition extraordinaire of what Portland's weather people call sun breaks.

So, it's raining in Portland. I still love the place.

In the Northwest Hills, all sorts of beautiful trees line the streets. This time of year, the leaves start to fall. When it rains hard enough to cause water to run in the streets, those leaves clump together and float to low places along the curbs and sidewalks. Drains become blocked. (Later on I'll show/explain how the City of Portland and Neighbors West Northwest deal with those leaves.) Look how the water rises into the air in a straight line. Is this an illustration for some sort of law of physics?

I think the drain must be clogged here, at the corner of NW 21st and Glisan, Tuesday about 5:30 p.m. I knew y'all would love to see the cars driving through the puddle that stretched from one corner half way out into the street. Slinging water, making ripples, the cars drove by every time the light changed. Safely out of range, I stood close to the Nob Hill Old Pharmacy Cafe, beneath a teensy little overhang, out of the rain, and snapped couple of shots. Look



It didn't rain all day long on Tuesday or Wednesday, just off and on, sometimes light, sometimes heavy. Wednesday evening while "Jeopardy" was on the TV, Mama and I heard hail hitting the windows on the east side of our apartment. I grabbed my CoolPix L12 and got this shot, though the screen and the closed window. You're looking at the streetlight on the corner; that's the Rose Plaza Apartments in the background. We heard it hailing for maybe two minutes, and the rain stopped in 10 minutes or so.