Tonight's dramatic sunset evoked memories for me of two similarly
colored yellow-pink skies from my past. The first was October 12, 1962, as the
winds of what became known as the Columbus Day Storm moved into the Portland
area. Although I was a just month shy of turning 6, I still have a vivid
recollection of sitting in my grandma's house and seeing the yellow sky through
the big living room window.The destruction that followed was unprecedented in the Pacific Northwest.
The second was during the fall in the late 1990s, at the McKenzie Classic marching band show at Evergreen High School in Vancouver WA. Liz assisted me with the front ensemble for years, and we were standing with the kids at the ready gate, waiting for the Hockinson band to finish their Finals performance so that we could take the field. As we watched the sky becoming a rosy yellow, Liz looked at me and said “”What is wrong with your hair?” I looked back at her and, as her hair was standing almost straight up, I replied “What’s wrong with YOUR hair?” Just as I said that, I felt a little buzz zing across my cheek and realized that there was a tremendous amount of electricity in the air. And then, there was a huge noise as a bolt of lightning struck a school bus that was parked no more than 30 yards from where we were standing. There was a lot of commotion as we yelled at the students to run for cover, and shortly thereafter the sky darkened and a massive rainstorm ensued. I still can see the drum cases under the equipment truck, floating in the flooded parking lot.
So while I appreciated the beauty of the sunset tonight, when I checked the weather app and saw that thunderstorms were in the forecast for much of the evening, I did experience a little bit of a visceral reaction.
Want to know more about the 1962 storm? Click on the link below.
Storm Damage October 12, 1962 - Newberg OR
