Monsoonal moisture combined with passing upper level disturbances to create thunderstorms over southern Oregon. Some of these storms became severe.
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 combined with passing upper level disturbances to create thunderstorms over southern Oregon. Some of these storms became severe.
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 8, 1:27 PM PST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR 227 PM PDT THU AUG 8 2013 .DISCUSSION...THE UPPER LOW CONTINUES TO SPIN OFFSHORE AND BRINGING IN MULTIPLE SHORTWAVES OVER THE FORECAST AREA. OF PARTICULAR CONCERN IS ONE THAT IS CENTERED NEAR 40N/123W AND IS BEING PICKED UP WELL IN THE WATER VAPOR IMAGE. THE VISIBLE IMAGE SHOWS MID AND HIGH CLOUDS WITH THIS FEATURE WITH CUMULUS DEVELOPMENT ALREADY OCCURRING IN WESTERN SISKIYOU COUNTY...SISKIYOUS AND CASCADES. WE DID A SPECIAL 18Z BALLOON LAUNCH AND IT SHOWS SLIGHT COOLING AT THE MID LEVELS AND ERODING CAP. THE ABOVE MENTIONED SHORTWAVE WILL MOVE NORTH AND THIS WILL BE ENOUGH TO BREAK THE CAP ALLOWING THINGS TO BLOW UP IN THESE AREAS. COULD NOT RULE OUT IN ADDITION GUSTY AND ERRATIC WINDS IN THE VICINITY OF THUNDERSTORMS WHICH WILL HAVE AN SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON FIRES. ALSO OF NOTE ARE THE UPPER WINDS. THE SOUNDING INDICATED THEY WERE BETWEEN 7-9 KTS AROUND 700MB AND THIS SHOULD TRANSLATE TO STORMS NOT MOVING VERY FAST WHEN THEY DEVELOP. THEREFORE AREAS THAT GET CAUGHT UNDER THUNDERSTORMS COULD GET MODERATE RAINFALL TOTALS IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME. SMALL HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE LATE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING. THE UPPER LOW WILL MOVE LITTLE TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY AND REMAINS AT OR JUST OFF THE OREGON COAST AND WILL SEND PLENTY OF SHORTWAVES THROUGH THE AREA. SO WE'LL MOST LIKELY SEE SIMILAR CONDITIONS AS THURSDAY. FOR NOW LEFT THUNDERSTORMS IN FOR TONIGHT...BUT IT'S POSSIBLE WE'LL HAVE CONVECTIVE SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED THUNDER AS INSTABILITY DECREASES SOME. ANOTHER ACTIVE DAY IS ON TAP FRIDAY WITH THE SAME AREAS LIKELY TO BE AFFECTED BY STORMS. THE SHREF GUIDANCE PAINTS HIGHER PROBABILITY OF STORMS OVER MICH OF THE AREA WHICH IS MORE COMPARED TO THIS AFTERNOON. THE UPPER LOW IS EXPECTED TO SLOWLY MOVE NORTH OVER SOUTHWEST OREGON FRIDAY NIGHT. PLENTY OF MID LEVEL MOISTURE WILL BE PRESENT AND MULTIPLE SHORTWAVES WILL MOVE THROUGH. WHILE ALL AREAS HAVE A THREAT OF THUNDERSTORMS...MOST OF THE ACTION MAY END UP BE CONFINED TO THE NORTHERN CASCADES AND NORTHERN LAKE AND KLAMATH COUNTIES. THE SHREF SHOWS POPS AROUND 20 PERCENT DECREASING TO 10 PERCENT OVERNIGHT FRIDAY. HOWEVER UNTIL THE UPPER LOW MOVES NORTH AND WE GET INTO A MORE SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST FLOW...MOST OF NOT ALL AREAS WILL BE FAIR GAME FOR THUNDERSTORMS. THE UPPER LOW WILL SLOWLY MOVE NORTH SATURDAY. THE MODELS ARE IN SIMILAR AGREEMENT THAT THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE FOR MOST OF THE FORECAST AREA. THE UPPER LOW FINALLY MOVES NORTH OF THE AREA SUNDAY AND WE'LL GET INTO A SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. THEREFORE WE EXPECT MOST OF THE THUNDERSTORMS TO BE ALONG AND EAST OF THE CASCADES...BUT IT SHOULD NOT BE AS ACTIVE AS TODAY AND FRIDAY. -PETRUCELLI && .AVIATION...MAINLY VFR CONDITIONS...EXCEPT FOR AREAS OF MVFR VSBYS AND LOCAL IFR VSBYS IN SMOKE...MOSTLY IN THE SOUTHERN UMPQUA...ILLINOIS...AND ROGUE BASINS AS WELL AS SISKIYOU COUNTY IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA AND FROM THE CASCADES EAST BY EARLY AFTERNOON...SPREADING WEST OF THE CASCADES IN OREGON IN THE LATE AFTERNOON. STORMS MAY BRING VERY GUSTY AND ERRATIC WINDS...BUT CONDITIONS WILL LIKELY REMAIN VFR. AT THE COAST... NORTH OF CAPE BLANCO...VFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE THIS EVENING ...THEN MVFR WITH LOCAL IFR CONDITIONS DEVELOP TONIGHT WHILE MVFR WITH LOCAL IFR CONDITIONS PERSIST SOUTH. && .MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 11 PM PDT FRIDAY FOR ORZ021>031. CA...RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 11 PM PDT FRIDAY FOR CAZ080>085. PACIFIC COASTAL WATERS...NONE.
The Medford radar (KMAX), 17 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:46 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
An orchardist from a orchard near Talent reported a 50% loss of the pear crop due to hail damage. Estimated hail size was 0.5 to 1.0 inches judging from holes in the ground. The monetary value of the loss is not known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, August 2013
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: 462715.