went over the rail just on the other side of the chairs, the one you're facing in the picture.
In the wee hours of Sunday, August 17, 2008, around 3:00 am or so, we experienced a microburst at our house in Tigard, OR. A microburst is a sudden downward flow of air in a localized area. You can read up more about the technicalities of what a microburst is on Wikipedia, and you can even see a video explanation and footage of a microburst on YouTube.
I was fast asleep upstairs in my bed, Neil was in the daylight basement watching a little late-night TV before heading up to bed himself. He said he heard a very loud whooshing noise as of a lot of wind blowing suddenly. It was closely followed by a bang and even louder THUD noise, which is what woke me up.
We both went out on the main floor deck (which happens to be 2 stories up at the back of the house) to see what happened, and I noticed that our patio table and umbrella were missing! It turns out that this microburst of wind, when it hit the ground, it rebounded upwards, catching the table and umbrella and launching them off the deck and over the railing! The loud THUD noise we heard was the sound of the table and umbrella hitting the ground below.
I've documented with photos the result of our microburst encounter. We were lucky that the table didn't blow into a window or do any damage to the deck/railing. The table is damaged but fixable, though the umbrella has bit the dust pretty much.
This is where the table was. Amazingly enough, the chairs and the umbrella base were not moved at all! The table
went over the rail just on the other side of the chairs, the one you're facing in the picture.
Here is the view from the railing where the table flew the coop. It landed partially in the grass and partially in
the bark dust at the bottom of the photo, as seen next to the edge of the railing in this photo.
And here is a photo from below, so you can see just how far the table fell after it flew over the railing. Wowsers!
Here is a picture of the table after it was "rescued" and returned to the deck. The rear right leg (as you're looking
at the photo) is obviously bent out of position, but it is fixable.
Here is another spot of damage on the table, where the metal was ripped with the force of the table landing.
And here lies the poor, mangled umbrella. It has been bent up and broken, and must be put out of its misery.
