Very Strange Experience....

[Dottore]

So I'm heading down the Oregon Coast today, and stop for a pee. I get out and hear this strange otherworldly moaning sound in the wind. I look down the cliff and see hundreds, and quite possibly thousands of sea lions on the beach and in the ocean, all barking in unison. (first pic) Very strange. Each one of those tiny black dots is a sea lion.

I carry on down the highway, and as it gets increasingly desolate, the weather deteriorates and the gusts of wind and rain get increasingly stronger. I consider heading inland away from the coast, and talk to some truckers who tell me to stay on the coast, because there will be "too many trees down" inland.

Ahead the sky is now almost black (about twice as dark as in the third pic). I turn a corner, and I'm suddenly in a dark rainstorm of a kind I have never experienced before. The car is violently shaken from side to side by gusts of wind carrying enormous amounts of water...almost like slabs of solid water that were pummeling the car and felt like some huge fist pounding the car. I couldn't tell whether the water was from the sea or the sky or both. I could see nothing and had to stop in the middle of the road. The wipers were on full but I could see nothing. Just pitch black and solid sheets of water. There was no place to pull over. Nothing to do. No idea what the other traffic was doing.

All the while the car is being pummeled so badly by these slabs of water, that it is actually moving several feet in each direction from the gusts. The whole thing lasted no more than 3 or 4 minutes but felt like an eternity. I can't remember the last time I felt that frightened and completely helpless. The whole thing ended just as quickly as it came...the cloud just moved on down the coast.

A truly strange experience.

Anyone ever been in anything like this??

Tonight I can't help but think the seals were trying to warn me off this crazy storm—which they already knew was coming...

[legion]

I was caught in a system like that on the Illinois/Wisconsin border several years ago. I couldn't see the lines on the road. I put on my hazards on and stopped where I was. When the rain subsided, I was pointed 45º from the lines (pointed towards the ditch) and one wheel was in the shoulder.

[RPKESQ]

Glad you are OK.

I was picked up on my motorcycle and dropped into a ditch about 50 yards from the start. This happened in Wisconsin about 35 years ago.

[RWebb]

seals, and many other animals can sense sound at infrasonic (real real low) frequencies

there are reports in the literature of elephants sensing (hearing) large thunderstorms hundreds of miles away

doubt they were "trying" to warn you tho

yes, I've been in such watery moments; same for snow

hope you have a fun drive

[red-beard]

We call those "Hurricanes", but they last longer.

[TRE Cup]

The only driving experience with hard rain came while towing a race car from Laughlin Nevada to Las Vegas. We could see the rain coming toward us like a black curtain across the horizon. That was very weird experience! all traffic slowed down to no more than 10-20 mph while that cloud passed.
Another experience i had was in snow with a sudden near white out condition and lots of wind- we came out of a protected valley with no clue about the wind that comes up the pass across the road:Instant ice skating rink!
You are right, it made us feel very vulnerable and humbled by mother nature

Your experience was a lot more dangerous. Glad nothing happened to you

[Tobra]

Been through severe thunderstorms a few times. Once just south of Portland OR, had a cloudburst with hail and heavy rain, pulled over quick, but there were plenty of wrecks.

10-12 hours, it was incredible, raining so hard it hurt when it hit you. Wipers on high thinking I should slow down because the wipers can't keep up, and I am going about 8 mph. You want a heavy vehicle for that sort of thing.

[Danny_Ocean]

[masraum]

Haha. I was thinking, "sounds like a heavy summer storm here on the gulf coast." In FL I've had to stoo due to rain. Here i've had to slow way down. Some of those really heavy storms can make you feel like you're on another planet, scary and awe inspiring at the same time.

[Don Ro]

I experienced something only close to yours...not as harrowing.
Driving from Calif. to No. Dakota for a family Christmas re-union...2 - 3 a.m. in a snow blizzard so heavy & violent I had to hang out the door in first gear... creeping along looking down for the road stripes.
As you said, scariest part was not knowing about other traffic.
.
I would have been more frightened in your event than mine, methinks.
Violent nature gets my attention RIGHT NOW!!!

[porsche4life]

Never had it that bad... Yet... But have had a few bad ones.... We get freak weather here in OK all the time...

[john70t]

Once had an interesting Fourth of July when I lived on a lake.

Across the water they were shooting fireworks and I could hear the echos and voices from far away. The sky was dark and clear above me but the horizon glowed slightly enough to backlight the treeline, behind which was a silent lightning storm a few miles away.

The fireworks would go up into the low-hanging clouds and burst. Then(sometimes in the same spot), a two-second bolt on lightning would arch to the treeline. EeeerrrrPOW. POW. BZZZT.
It was like they were having a battle with god.

[trekkor]

On the freeway one time about 20 years ago.
The rain was so hard that it looked like we were inside a carwash.

All at once everyone came to to a crawl and exited at the next offramp.

Another time we were on a coffee break. Couldn't see across the parking lot from inside the shop.

I like really hard rain that roars as it pummels the roof when I'm at home.
Driving in it, not so much.


KT

[Heel n Toe]

Probably a microburst.

[azasadny]

Yep, I've been through very similar storms and the animals (dogs, mostly) seem to know the storm is coming before we do.

[imcarthur]

I have experienced a few of these situations in Florida. In the last one, several years ago, I was on southbound I-75 between Tampa & Sarasota. Rain in literal buckets. Nil visibility. Lightening was hitting all of the cell towers on both sides of the road. Pulling over or stopping was not an option. With traffic all around, I had to keep inching forward following the emergency flashers of the vehicle in front. Later in the day it was reported that a tornado had hit & killed several people in a mobile park just to the east.

As for winter, sunny day whiteouts are pretty intense. I came over the brow of a hill at 70 mph one day into complete whiteout on a 3 lane hwy. Again, you have to keep moving or someone will smack you from behind. Just slap the 4 ways on & grit your teeth & hope you get through it.

Ian

[Christien]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

As for winter, sunny day whiteouts are pretty intense. I came over the brow of a hill at 70 mph one day into complete whiteout on a 3 lane hwy. Again, you have to keep moving or someone will smack you from behind. Just slap the 4 ways on & grit your teeth & hope you get through it.

It's because of these that I quit winter driving in any kind of weather before I was 20. I remember driving up to Ottawa in February when I was about 17 or 18, bunch of friends in the car, complete whiteout on a small country road (before they built the 416). We were going about 20-30 km/h and my buddy riding shotgun was literally leaning out his open door to try to watch the end of the road to make sure we were still on it. Never again.

[imcarthur]

That's actually one of the reasons I chose US southeast in our final territory division years ago. I just didn't want to face winter driving anymore. But I got tornado & hurricane driving instead.

Ian

[cbush]

I was out on the lake in central Texas a few years back, and saw some dark clouds rolling in, so we docked, put the boat on the trailer, and headed home. Halfway home the storm hit. Blinding rain, heavy winds rocking the car- I was afraid it would pick up the boat and flip the car and boat so I pulled in under an underpass and let the storm pass. Later that evening I was going to a party on the Army post there and passed the airfield. There were 15 or so helicopters that had been picked up by the winds and deposited like tumbleweeds up against the fence at the far end of the airfield. That was an expensive day for the Army, but I was sure lucky!

[GH85Carrera]

Just this spring I was in a storm. It was not raining here at work as I left. My commute is only 9 miles but at the halfway point is the "antenna farm" where most of the TV stations are. There are a lot of big antennas that draw lightning. All of a sudden it got dark and the rain was coming down like a fire hose was on me. Then the hail started. I managed to find the north side of a building to hide from the hail. It was small hail but the ground turned white and there were drifts of hail. 5 minutes later the rain stopped and I continued home. It was just a light sprinkle at home.

There were no sea lions in sight