NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, August 13, 2022
Storm leaves trail of damage, injuries in Wallowa
By ANDREW CUTLER
AND PHIL WRIGHT
Wallowa County Chieftain
WALLOWA — Bruce
Eien said he remembers feel-
ing a sense of deja vu Thurs-
day, Aug. 11, in the aftermath
of the severe storm that rolled
through Wallowa County.
“It looked like how people
were walking around after
9/11 — in a daze,” he said.
“That’s exactly what it was.”
The Enterprise resident,
who has family that lives in
Wallowa where much of the
damage from large hail was
centered, was touring the
county to look at the damage
in the aftermath of the storm.
“We were driving around,
checking on all of the people
we knew,” he said, “making
sure they were OK.”
Earlier in the day, the
National Weather Service
in Pendleton issued a severe
thunderstorm warning for
much of Wallowa County
until 5 p.m. Aug. 11. The
warning included 2-inch
hail and winds up to 50 mph.
Camden Plunkett, a mete-
orologist for the weather
service, said there were
reports of baseball-sized hail
in the county.
“For the hail that was
received in Wallowa County,
we are leaning toward tennis
ball-sized hail up to 2½
inches,” he said. “We did also
Nicole Bellows/Contributed Photo
This photo, submitted by Nicole Bellows, of Lostine, shows unique storm clouds rolling
through Wallowa County on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022. “I had never seen anything like it. My
husband is from Kansas and his remark was, ‘If I was in Kansas I would say it’s a tornado. It
was moving fast and headed northeast,’” Bellows said.
have some reports of ping-
pong ball-sized hail about 1.5
inches in La Grande as well.”
Plunkett said his office did
hear about multiple injuries
as a result of the hail, some-
thing Eien said he’s heard
while he was in Wallowa as
well.
“We are hoping everyone
is all right,” he said, adding
the county also received
“frequent lightning strikes.”
Staff at Wallowa Memo-
rial Hospital, Enterprise,
confirmed the hospital
treated “multiple” patients
for injuries from the hail-
stones. Staff also reported
how unusual this was, with
one commenting she has
lived in Eastern Oregon more
than 40 years and this was a
first for her.
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
SUNDAY
| Go to AccuWeather.com
MONDAY
Plenty of sunshine
Plenty of sunshine
87° 57°
90° 59°
89° 57°
91° 58°
TUESDAY
Sunshine
WEDNESDAY
Hot with plenty
of sun
101° 71°
99° 66°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
95° 59°
105° 66°
99° 62°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. Fri.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
71/55
81/49
88/54
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
87/60
Lewiston
76/55
90/58
Astoria
70/56
Pullman
Yakima 87/54
76/52
90/60
Portland
Hermiston
80/60
The Dalles 89/57
Salem
Corvallis
80/53
Friday
Normals
Records
La Grande
85/51
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
84/53
85/51
89/49
Ontario
97/65
Caldwell
Burns
96°
61°
92°
58°
106° (1971) 45° (1966)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
80/53
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
91/58
0.00"
0.02"
0.07"
7.50"
2.46"
5.21"
WINDS (in mph)
93/61
90/49
0.00"
0.04"
0.12"
11.17"
4.35"
8.43"
through 3 p.m. Fri.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 83/48
82/56
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
87/57
87/60
94°
63°
90°
59°
105° (1971) 42° (1907)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
77/54
Aberdeen
85/56
86/60
Tacoma
Friday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
77/57
Today
Sun.
SW 8-16
W 8-16
WSW 4-8
WNW 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
87/47
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:53 a.m.
8:07 p.m.
9:28 p.m.
7:40 a.m.
Last
New
First
Full
Aug 18
Aug 27
Sep 3
Sep 10
NATIONAL EXTREMES
to cause the large hailstones.
“We had really strong
updrafts and then we had
really strong wind shear
that allowed an organized
supercell thunderstorm to
develop,” he said.
The storm took about 90
minutes to pass through the
county, Plunkett said, and
once it crossed into Idaho,
the storm weakened signifi-
cantly.
Plunkett said the expected
50 mph wind gusts did not
materialize. There were
reports of 60 mph gusts at
the La Grande/Union County
Airport.
“We did not have any
confirmed wind gusts in
Wallowa County,” he said.
Severe weather is not
expected in the county over
the next several days, but
Wallowa County was in line
for possible isolated thun-
derstorms in the afternoon
on Aug. 12.
Plunkett also said there
is not a lot of data available
on supercells in Wallowa
County. The last recorded
event was a tornado with
a rating of EF2 that hit
June 11, 1968. EF means
“enhanced Fujita scale,” and
a 2 on the scale means gusts
of three seconds of 111-135
mph. The Western Regional
Climate Center, he said,
reports that tornado came
with golf ball-sized hail.
$11,500 reward offered for information
on an illegal wolf kill in Baker County
By SIERRA DAWN
MCCLAIN
Capital Press
Partly sunny and
very hot
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
93° 62°
Eien said around 4 p.m.
the power went out in Enter-
prise and about the same
time, his wife received a text
from her parents in Wallowa.
“We lost everything,” he
recalled the text saying. “We
immediately got in the car.
We didn’t know what that
meant.”
Eien said as they reached
Wallowa, the damage sharp-
ened into focus — cars
with shattered windshields,
downed trees and homes with
severe damage.
“There was a tree that hit a
house, some trees in front of
the high school went over,” he
said. “Telephone lines, power
lines went down.”
Power was out for 887
customers in Wallowa into
the early morning hours of
Aug. 12. According to the
Pacific Power website, 887
customers were without
power following the storm.
The outage was first reported
shortly before 4 p.m.
“We have crews working
around the clock to restore
services to all those affected,”
the Pacific Power website
says. “We estimate power
will be restored by 5 a.m.”
Power also is out to about
13 customer in the Minam
area. The outage was also
reported shortly before 4 p.m.
and is expected to be restored
around 5 a.m.
Power was out in other
parts of the county, accord-
ing to Pacific Power’s Twit-
ter feed.
More than 5,300 custom-
ers in Enterprise and Wallowa
were without power late in
the afternoon. The cause of
the outage was severe storm
damage, according to the
utility’s Twitter feed.
Plunkett said the storm
was a perfect chain of events
BAKER COUNTY —
Oregon State Police Fish and
Wildlife Division troopers
are seeking the public’s assis-
tance in finding whoever shot
a wolf in Baker County.
On Aug. 5, the Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife notified troopers
that a collared wolf, OR112,
might be dead at a site about 7
miles north of Halfway.
Fish and Wildlife troopers
and ODFW personnel went
to the site and found the dead
wolf.
The wolf, a 2-year-old
gray female that was part of
the Keating Pack, had been
shot. Troopers say it appears
the wolf was killed the previ-
ous day, Aug. 4.
The Oregon Wildlife
Coalition and its conserva-
tion partners are offering an
$11,500 reward to anyone
who has information that
leads to the arrest of one or
more suspects in the case.
Amaroq Weiss, senior
wolf advocate at the Center
for Biological Diversity,
which is part of the coalition
Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division/Contributed Photo
Oregon State Police on Aug. 5 found this wolf, which had
been shot, in Baker County.
offering the reward, said that
because wolves are much
larger than coyotes, there is
no excuse for mistaking the
two.
“Anyone with informa-
tion on this or other killings
should do the right thing and
come forward,” said Weiss.
Oregon Cattlemen’s Asso-
ciation has told the Capital
Press previously that while
producers have long been
been frustrated by ODFW’s
policies related to livestock
depredations, “Unlawful
activity is not something
OCA is ever going to encour-
age.”
The association has
cautioned against assuming
ranchers are responsible for
poaching.
Anyone with information
about the case should call the
Turn in Poachers hotline at
800-452-7888 or email TIP@
osp.oregon.gov.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 107° in Palm Springs, Calif. Low 35° in Bodie State Park, Calif.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
OSP now says antelope in
Baker County was killed legally
KEATING — The Oregon State Police
on Tuesday, Aug. 9, retracted its claim from
the day before that a buck antelope had been
illegally killed near Keating in Baker County.
A Tuesday press release from OSP stated:
“After receiving information from the public,
F&W Troopers were able to determine this
was a legal harvest and the meat was removed
from the carcass in accordance with the wild-
life laws. The buck antelope was harvested
utilizing a Special Qualified Disabled Veteran
Tag. Oregon State Police Fish & Wildlife
Division personnel are no longer seeking the
public’s assistance regarding this matter.”
In a press release on Monday, OSP stated
that fish and wildlife troopers had “received
information from a citizen who found an ante-
lope carcass on BLM land between Mother
Lode Road and Skinner Lane near Keating.
Troopers responded to the scene and found
the butchered carcass of an antelope with the
head removed. Troopers determined the ante-
lope was likely killed sometime during the
first week of August. In addition to the unlaw-
ful take, troopers also determined meat was
left to waste.”
The release stated that the first controlled
antelope season in this area, the 462 Pine
Cr-Keating hunt, starts Aug. 13.
— EO Media group
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
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100s
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