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Published 11/14/08

Oregon Turns from Storm to Sunny, Pleasant Weekend on Coast, Portland

Hug Point on Thursday: a glorious sunset painted the rockface with bright colors, with evidence of beach erosion in the foreground. The creek is raging because of massive amounts of water from the waterfall.

(Manzanita, Oregon) - The mid-week storm wreaked plenty of havoc in Portland, the coast range and the northern Oregon coast: but what a difference a day makes.

Less than 24 hours after the road into Seaside was shut down by extremely high water, conditions were sunny and nearly windless, with a small army of people digging for clams by a breathtaking sunset. And more stunning conditions are planned for the weekend, both inland and along the coast.

Wednesday was typified by plenty of rain and flooding, even along the bottom of Highway 26, where less than a quarter mile from the 101 junction, homesteads were covered in water and parts of the highway had massive pools that nearly stranded some motorists. Visibility was terrible between Portland and Highway 101, although the roads were completely clear southward, towards Cannon Beach and Manzanita.

Seaside Aquarium's Keith Chandler is one of a small army of clam diggers on the beach Thursday.

But residents on the north coast awoke to glorious sun and cleared roads Thursday, with more of the same on Friday and even more in store throughout the weekend.

Friday night already saw a spectacular sunset, with many gathered along the overlooks above Manzanita to soak it in. Winds are expected to be minimal tonight and throughout the weekend. At least through Monday, winds shouldn’t be more than five to ten mph.

Saturday should bring only partly cloudy skies, although Friday had almost no clouds, except for in the extreme distance on the ocean horizon. Highs will be about 62, sliding to lows of around 46 on Saturday evening.

Sunday is again supposed to bring minimal wind, clouds and lots of sun, with highs in the lower 60’s and lows in the upper 40’s.

On Monday, some more clouds are expected, but windless conditions should keep the highs in the lower 60’s again, while the sun will likely still be around.

The waterfall at Hug Point goes bonkers after Wednesday's rainstorms.

Tuesday maintains those temperatures, although some rain is expected.

Friday and Thursday were incredible turnarounds from the drenching conditions of mid-week, bringing out plenty of beachcombers.

The spot two miles south of Seaside where water had grown too high to cross was completely cleared, although some waters still lapped at the highway from flooded fields on either side. Some vehicles were left by the side of the road, still remaining from the previous evening’s problems and awaiting their owners.

Keith Chandler, manager of Seaside Aquarium, chuckled when he talked about local businesses having to postpone decorating downtown Seaside with holiday items.

“We were going to do it yesterday, but we had to put it off,” Chandler said Thursday. “Yesterday was kind of crummy - just a little bit of a problem.”

The stormy conditions have left their marks in other, more permanent ways, and there are some interesting sights for tourists to catch should they take advantage of the nice weather. At Hug Point, just south of Cannon Beach, a fair amount of beach erosion seems to have already taken place. Lower sand levels were evident near the historic road around the point, where rocks were more visible than usual - even for this time of year.

Highway 6 between Portland and Tillamook: part of this route was closed this week because of a landslide, but reopened by Friday.

Water runoffs from the hills created some spectacular sights on that beach. The normally small waterfall of Hug Point was raging Thursday, creating a heavy stream below as well.

The weather seems to be bringing the best out of some tourists, said San Dune Inn owner Brian Hines. His little motel in Manzanita is seeing a bump in people, although he feels may not be just the weather bringing them out.

“We’re about half full tonight, and we were half full last night,” Hines said Friday. “I don’t know if it’s just the weather, though. I think the reasons may be a bit looser than that. I think there’s kind of an Obama bump. People don’t seem as tense as they were about things, like the economy.”

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