HURRICANE WARNING ON THE OREGON COAST

Hi All :)

I hope Spring (Autumn for our S. Hemi Peeps) finds you well :)

2 weeks ago, I went to the Oregon Coast with my two Sons. We stayed in an amazing house on a sand dune right above the beach & looking out at the amazing vastness of the Pacific Ocean :)

We have stayed in this house before and knew it had awesome views with lots of windows facing the West for amazing Sunsets & Ocean viewing :)

What we didn't know was how bad the weather was going to be, rain had been forecast, hey, this is early March in Oregon so no surprises there, but we did not expect the Hurricane Warnings that started to show up the day after we arrived, oops! These are basically unheard of in Oregon. It definitely made for an interesting experience; I have experienced some strong winds in my life but for about 18 hours this was crazy and the rain, just pouring down like tomorrow was going out of fashion and the winds whipped the waves into a frenzy, the windows of the house were literally shaking (thankfully they were not glass) and we were happy to be indoors with a gas fire to keep us warm.

You can read about the Hurricane Winds Here; 

I went outside onto an upstairs balcony, a couple of times, very briefly, to take some photos of the very high waves but nearly got blown away; trying to hold my camera steady with a zoom lens was challenging but I tried :)

So, as fuzzy as some of these images are I wanted to share them with you because they have their own beauty. :)

The following day the waves were still high but lovely blue skies appeared; there was some flooding and some of the local coastal rivers were close to or at flood stage, we drove thru a few big pools of standing water along some coastal roads. Still not really quite believing what we had experienced.

Click on photos to see larger images :)

The Pacific Ocean, by early afternoon (1pm) the winds had picked up and the High Tide was churning - the sky was grey and the drizzle turned to rain. (Next 3 photos are early afternoon too)

I couldn't resist adding a little colour to this photo (and a few following ones) to see if I could show the brewing storm in a different light.

The Pacific Ocean at 3pm - The sky was so dark it was hard to see the horizon - the waves were powerful and swirling, it was amazing to hear their thunderous crashing.

1pm March 9th

1pm March 10th - 

It was amazing the transformation within those 24 hours

Same shot (Above and Below) 24 hrs. apart - Mother Nature is so awesome.

Again pretty much the same shot taken 24 hrs apart - the Ocean is beautiful, majestic, frightening and reassuring all at the same time. (High Tide both shots)

Looking out at the calmer Ocean at High Tide and the Blue Sky, if we hadn't lived it we would not have believed it had been so incredibly rainy and gale force winds less than 6 hours before and howling ALL night.

But as the camera was pointed South, there were still glimmers of those rain clouds moving inland towards the coastal range.

I have to admit I was just so excited to be by the Ocean again; it has been the longest time ever for me between trips to the Ocean, I had missed it so much. I'm a Water Girl, I need to see the Ocean and be by it on a regular basis or I dry up, lol :)

Well, I guess I got more water than I had bargained for but it was thrilling to be at the coast to experience this storm, call me crazy but I felt a kind of refreshed sense of renewal after it but I am also the kind of girl who likes to open the windows and breathe in deeply during a thunderstorm :)

Hope you enjoy my photos :)

Happy Wednesday :)

Happy Painting/Creating! :) T.