Monsoonal moisture moved into the Medford CWA on the 16th. This, combined with extreme surface heating, led to the development of thunderstorms.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS MFR wrote it up.
Monsoonal moisture moved into the Medford CWA on the 16th. This, combined with extreme surface heating, led to the development of thunderstorms. Some of these thunderstorms contained severe wind gusts and hail. Temperatures cooled down drematically over this interval, but there was still enough surface heating and cooling aloft to support some thunderstorm development.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 16, 2:05 PM PST, 5 hours 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR 305 PM PDT SAT AUG 16 2008 .DISCUSSION...CONVECTION IS DEFINITELY STEPPED UP QUITE A BIT FROM YESTERDAY...THE STRONG SUBSIDENCE INVERSION AT 500 MB THAT WAS ON YESTERDAYS SOUNDING HAS WEAKENED AND SLIGHT COOLING IS MOVING IN AT 500 MB AND THIS SHOULD BE ENOUGH TO ALLOW AT LEAST ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE MOST COHESIVE ACTIVITY AS DEFINED BY THE NAM12 850-700MB THETA E CONVERGENCE ZONE THAT LINES UP ALONG THE CASCADES. THERE CONTINUES TO BE GREAT DIFFERENCES IN THE MOISTURE FIELD FROM THE WEST SIDE TO THE EAST SIDE...WITH WEST SIDE DEW POINTS IN THE MID 50S WITH PW VALUES ABOVE 1.5 INCHES...AND THE FAR EAST SIDE DEW POINTS IN THE MID 30S AND PW VALUES NEAR .75 INCHES. ALTHOUGH MODELS ARE INDICATING THE CASCADES EASTWARD AS THE MOST LIKELY AREA OF CONVECTION A VERY UNSTABLE AIR MASS IS WEST OF THE CASCADES WITH THE GFS SHOWING COMPUTED FROM 850 MB LI APPROACHING -4. HOWEVER...THE CONVECTIVE TEMP ON THE WEST SIDE IS RIGHT NEAR THE PREDICTED MAX TEMP AND A MORE LIKELY SCENARIO IS CONVECTION FIRING UP IN THE SISKIYOUS AND PARTICULARLY IN THE MOUNTAINS OF WEST CENTRAL SISKIYOU COUNTY AND THEN ADVECTING IN THE UNSTABLE AIR MASS NORTHWARD IN THE SOUTHERLY STEERING FLOW. THIS BRINGS ANY STORM THAT MAY DEVELOP INTO THE WEST SIDE...MOST LIKELY UP ALONG THE RIDGES BETWEEN MEDFORD AND GRANTS PASS AND THEN UP INTO DOUGLAS COUNTY...IF THEY FORM. PRETTY MUCH THE SAME PATTERN CONTINUES SUNDAY WITH INCREASED MOISTURE AND A MUCH BETTER KICKER THAN TODAYS BL CONVERGENCE. HOWEVER...THE BEST CONVERGENCE IS SHIFTED EAST TO THE EAST SIDE WITH THE AXIS OF INSTABILITY SHIFTED EASTWARD OVER THE CASCADES AS WELL. AS BL TO 700 MB WINDS SHIFT MORE SOUTHWESTERLY TEMPERATURES WILL DROP AROUND 20F BY TUESDAY WITH AREAS OF INSTABILITY SHIFTING FAR TO THE EAST. MODELS ARE BECOMING MUCH MORE CONGRUENT ON THE SYSTEM COMING IN LATE TUESDAY WITH ALL MEDIUM RANGE MODELS SHOWING SIGNIFICANT QPF AND HAVE WALKED UP POPS SIGNIFICANTLY. && .AVIATION...ISOLATED MVFR WITH THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE EVENING OVER MOST OF THE REGION WITH BEST ACTIVITY ALONG THE CASCADES. AREAS OF VFR DEVELOP ALONG THE COAST AND PUSH INTO THE INLAND VALLEYS NEAR NORTH BEND BY LATE EVENING AND BURN BACK AGAIN TO THE COAST BY NOON. && .MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 7 PM PDT THIS EVENING FOR ORZ617. CA...NONE. PACIFIC COASTAL WATERS...NONE. SVEN
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
624 PM PDT SAT AUG 16 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0556 PM HAIL FORT JONES 41.61N 122.84W
08/16/2008 M0.50 INCH SISKIYOU CA NWS EMPLOYEE
&&
STAVISHThe Medford radar (KMAX), 80 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:41 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A member of the public reported that part of a barn roof was blown away, a firmly anchored car canopy was toppled, and a boat was damaged by strong gusts associated with a thunderstorm. No warning was issued for this storm.
A fire crew working a wildfire at NW Baldy Buttes 3E Howard Prairie reported nickel size hail at T38 R5 SEC8. 0.50 inch hail was reported at 18/1620 PDT at nearby Fish Lake Resort. A Severe Thunderstorm Warning was issued for this storm at 17/1551 PDT, effective from 17/1551 until 17/1615 PDT. The area covered was east central Jackson and southwest Klamath counties. A new warning was issued for this storm at 17/1614 PDT, effective from 17/1614 until 17/1700 PDT. The area covered was east central Jackson and west central Klamath counties. The warning expired at 17/1700 PDT.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, August 2008
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 116755, 116758.