Record Rain

After a torrid pace of 13 blog posts in January, I've fallen off the blogging wagon this month. There just hasn't been much to write about weather-wise (or otherwise, for that matter).

So, just when I was thinking I'd never blog again, the inspiration literally fell out of the sky yesterday in the form of a record amount of rain in Hood River for any February 25. My station recorded 1.27", MCAREC, the "most official" keeper of HR records, recorded 0.98", and the previous record was 0.95" in 1976. I defer to MCAREC on these things, since their database (which inexplicably is always a couple of years behind) is the one my weather software uses.

As much as I enjoy experiencing a local weather record being eclipsed, what I really appreciated about this storm was that it almost certainly banished The Inversion (aka The Thing That Lives In The Gorge) from the Gorge for the season. Whereas last year's winter came and went with almost no inversion events, this year "IT" came back with a vengeance in January and February. Fortunately, inversion events from March on are virtually unheard of, as warmer temperatures and westerly patterns take hold.

To celebrate the turning of the seasons, and because (by this time of the year) I am desperate to get my hands in the soil, I planted the first vege crop a couple of days ago: Sugar Sprint peas, an early sweet edible pod variety. Since the soil temperature is low (currently 44 degrees), germination would take forever, so I pre-spout the peas until the roots are about 1/4" long, and then plant about an inch deep. And next, in a few more days, the first radish seeds get planted. Life is good.

The icing on the cake this morning (snow)