A few severe thunderstorms developed with good rotation associated. One of these storms managed to produce a short-lived tornado.
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 PDT wrote it up.
A few severe thunderstorms developed with good rotation associated. One of these storms managed to produce a short-lived tornado. In addition to the tornado a wind gust about 70 MPH was reported 14 miles east of Mitchell. That same area received golf ball (1.75) hail. Other areas that received hail ranging from penny to golf ball in size were: 1.75 2 miles N of Monument, 1.75 in Monument, 1.00 just east northeast of Ukiah, 1.00 a mile northeast of Ukiah, 0.88 14 miles north northwest of Dayville, and 0.75 9 miles southeast of Spray.
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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jun 8, 7:03 PM PST, 19 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Pendleton OR 803 PM PDT WED JUN 8 2016 .SHORT TERM...Tonight and Thursday...A cold front continues to move across far northeast Oregon and southeast Washington this evening but will be exiting into Idaho in the next couple of hours. There will continue to be some showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms along the front but the threat of severe thunderstorms has ended. Thus the severe thunder storm watch for northeast Oregon and southeast Washington has ended. Behind the front skies are mostly clear and there are some breezy to windy westerly winds. These winds will continue into the early night and then decrease. The upper level trough off in the Gulf of Alaska willmove closer to the Pacific Northwest on Thursday with a closed low off the coast of Washington by afternoon. This will keep the forecast area under southwest flow aloft leading to a chance of showers and thunderstorms again in the afternoon mainly over the eastern portion of the forecast area. The continued westerly winds over the Cascades should keep the east slopes dry under downsloping conditions. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 145 PM PDT WED JUN 8 2016/ ..Corrected Fire Weather Discussion... SHORT TERM...tonight through Saturday. Upper level low approaching the Pac NW today. Short wave and associated jet moving across the forecast area will bring increased showers and thunderstorms this afternoon into early evening. Fair amount of instability combined with dynamics and wind aloft will result in some stronger storms over the next several hours mainly from the John Day highlands across the Blues. Storms will be moving fast and recent history indicates very efficient at lightning production. Expect activity to move off to the east and out of the forecast area by mid evening. Skies will then be partly to mostly cloudy overnight. The upper low is pushing a cold front through the area and will bring breezy to windy conditions through the afternoon and evening. Strongest winds will be in the Columbia basin and adjacent valleys with gusts 25-35 mph. The upper low will move slowly across the Pac NW Thu into Saturday. This will result in mostly cloudy skies with showers and isolated thunderstorms. Temperatures will be much cooler than the past several days with highs in the 60s and 70s. 94 LONG TERM...Saturday night through Wednesday...models in good agreement in continuing a troughy weather pattern over the forecast area through the period. The upper flow will be more conducive in producing showers on the west side. However...afternoon/evening showers will be possible each day...especially over the mountains. The Columbia basin and foothills will generally remain dry. At this time...the best chance of precipitation should be Sunday night as a system exits the region. Another decent chance of precipitation may occur on Wednesday...but the models differ significantly in their handling of this system. At this time...will go with the drier GFS solution as it keeps the upper low offshore. Temperatures will be slightly below normal through the period. Earle AVIATION...00z Tafs. VFR conditions should prevail through the period. A cold front will move across the area this evening producing scattered showers and a few thunderstorms...some of the stronger storms could produce brief MVFR conditions. Winds at 10-20 kts...20-30 kts KDLS...will decrease overnight but increase again during the afternoon to 10-20 kts. Earle FIRE WEATHER...Red Flag Warnings remain in effect for Fire Zones WA641, WA675 and OR641 which covers the Lower Columbia Basin...the Southern Yakima Valley...and the Hanford District. This is not a slam dunk forecast as Relative Humidity (RH) values and the winds will vary significantly from one location to another. The cold front is moving faster than previously anticipated...and the marine push is allowing RH's to increase into the 30s across the southern Yakima Valley and the western half of the Columbia Basin. Other areas have RH's in the upper teens and 20s. Will keep the warning in effect but it is a borderline situation. Confidence is high that winds will increase to around 18-30 mph in the next several hours. There has been at least one new fire start from lightning near Sisters...and there may be an additional new start this evening in the forecast area. Wister && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PDT 54 77 49 67 / 10 10 20 30 ALW 57 78 52 68 / 10 10 30 20 PSC 57 81 52 74 / 10 10 20 20 YKM 51 76 46 73 / 0 10 10 20 HRI 56 80 50 72 / 10 10 20 20 ELN 51 71 45 69 / 0 10 10 20 RDM 44 73 42 63 / 10 10 10 20 LGD 51 75 48 65 / 50 20 30 40 GCD 49 77 48 64 / 10 20 20 40 DLS 56 74 49 72 / 0 10 10 30 && .PDT Watches/Warnings/Advisories... OR...None. WA...None. && 91/91/91
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
259 PM PDT WED JUN 08 2016
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0245 PM HAIL ENE UKIAH 45.13N 118.93W
06/08/2016 M1.00 INCH UMATILLA OR TRAINED SPOTTER
QUARTER SIZE HAIL
0245 PM HAIL 1 NE UKIAH 45.14N 118.91W
06/08/2016 E1.00 INCH UMATILLA OR TRAINED SPOTTER
QUARTER SIZE HAIL
&&
JSMITHSPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
308 PM PDT WED JUN 8 2016
WAZ029-030-082245-
FOOTHILLS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON WA-
NORTHWEST BLUE MOUNTAINS WA-
308 PM PDT WED JUN 8 2016
...SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...
AT 307 PM PDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM
OVER SKI BLUEWOOD...OR 20 MILES SOUTH OF DAYTON...MOVING NORTHEAST
AT 35 MPH.
HALF INCH HAIL AND WINDS IN EXCESS OF 40 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH
THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
SKI BLUEWOOD.
A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 900 PM PDT FOR
SOUTHEASTERN WASHINGTON.
LAT...LON 4601 11797 4647 11783 4647 11774 4644 11773
4644 11771 4640 11772 4638 11768 4634 11768
4633 11761 4601 11760
TIME...MOT...LOC 2207Z 195DEG 30KT 4605 11782
RCThe Pendleton radar (KPDT), 154 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:20 UTC.
7 hail, 1 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
We received a lower quality cell phone video captured from the general public that showed what could potentially be a tornado. The observer felt very confident that it was. No damage reported as it was over rural area.
Driver witnessed the tornado then drove through the rear flank downdraft where they observed damaging wind gusts estimated to be 70 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Oregon, 2016Warnings in Oregon, June 2016
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: 630797, 630805, 630806, 630807, 630808, 630809, 630810, 630811, 630812.