The Pineapple Express comes to southwest Oregon

You all heard all about the Pineapple Express in California last week–if you have TV or radio, anyway.  But it made it up into the Northwest too, so I headed over to the coast to experience it up close and personal.  I’ve been wanting to be at the beach in a good storm, and figured this was my opportunity.

It was pretty cool, too, though I suspect other storms in the past few years have been better.  Here’s a shot from my first stop.

Here’s a closeup of the downed seagulls.  During the day, I saw a few flying, but it was a struggle, and most were on the ground, facing into the wind, enduring.  Here’s a closer shot of them.

Being a storm, it took video to begin to do it justice.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/114482480″>12:10:14 1</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user33545867″>Jean Mitchell</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

If you turn up the sound, you can hear wind and rain hitting the brim of my rain hat.  I faced away from the wind and held the phone under the hat brim to get all shots, which means you don’t get the full brunt of the storm.

The rain was really hammering down when I got back into the car, so I tried to catch that effect. . .

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/114482481″>12:10:14 2</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user33545867″>Jean Mitchell</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

. . . but of course, that just made it let up.

From there, I headed down to Bandon, where I figured the storm would be making a good show on the rocks.  The tide was also high, as you can see here–normally one walks on the beach this side of those rocks.  In fact, I’ve seen people climb up onto the top of the big one, though I haven’t done that yet.

Here are a couple of videos from there.  The most impressive stuff is happening on the rocks in the background.

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/114482483″>12:10:14 3</a> from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user33545867″>Jean Mitchell</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

<p><a href=”http://vimeo.com/114482482″>12:10:14:5</a&gt; from <a href=”http://vimeo.com/user33545867″>Jean Mitchell</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

The wind was pretty strong, but I’ve been there on non-rainy, summer days when it was even stronger, so I’m still waiting for the Really Big One.  I’ll be back out there.  (I wasn’t the only stormwatcher either place, but most of the others stayed in their vehicles.  Wimps.)