Never Mind

Regarding the previous post, scratch that. Indecision and inertia (and a brief flash of common sense) has won out. If it's not broke (too badly), don't fix it.

Plus, forcing the majority of the tolerant, kind, and long-suffering Hood River Weather visitors to change your links would be downright inconsiderate of me.

Plus, Temira has mentioned the chat window in her forecast blog and provided the link, and I sure don't want to get on HER bad side... :)

To those visitors that for whatever reason(s) prefer the original non-chat version of the site, I certainly respect that. Simply click here and bookmark that as your entry point. And the chat window has it's own separate web page here, which is good if you don't want to have your reading or typing interrupted by the weather site auto-refresh every 15 minutes.

So, once again, "it seems the more things don't change, the more they stay the same". How true. I'm not sure if Yogi Berra (or George W. for that matter) said that, but they should have.

One of the many rainbows over Hood River yesterday

Transitions

Transition: a passage from one steady state to a new steady state, sometimes disruptively.

We are currently experiencing a weather transition in Hood River, and not a moment too soon. After 2 weeks of arctic air sitting over us and producing prodigious amounts of snowfall, we are transitioning to warmer air. This arctic blast has lasted almost twice as long as is typical here, and has resulted in record amounts of snow pack on the ground in Hood River for the second half of December.

Arctic blasts aren't unusual here; most winters we have at least one. This one stands out in its duration, intensity, and amount of snowfall. Not to mention, icicles. Amazing icicles, extending in some cases from roof top to ground. Icicles that reflect and refract light in dancing patterns and colors. Nature's natural lead crystals. Icicles that potentially can pull gutters down to the ground and create ice dams that leak water into houses. Beauty and destruction, all in one neat package.

Traditionally, we usually transition from an arctic blast with sleet and freezing rain. It looks like we might possibly avoid that this time. Fingers are crossed. And, with this much snow on the ground, fingers are especially crossed that flooding can be avoided in the next week.

Wecome To The Arctic

Arctic air, that is. This temporary incursion of arctic air presents a tremendous opportunity to experience living in a place that has really cold winters. But only for a week or so! Perfect!

We had 5 inches of snow Sunday (which may be a local record), a cold inversion Monday, and beautifully clear sunny weather today. High temp today 23, low 9, minimum wind chill 0 (zero). Tomorrow, snow moves back in, along with another big storm this weekend as the arctic air starts to moderate. This is interesting weather, and I like interesting weather.

Fortunately, arctic blasts here rarely last longer than a week. They usually end on a very messy precipitation event, but they usually end in a timely fashon.

And this one had a perfect setup, at least for garden plants: There were (and still are) several inches of snow on the ground before the really cold temperatures set in, giving plants and the soil a comfy insulating blanket.

Here's a zoomed in and very fuzzy view of Mt Adams from the deck this evening. I gotta trim those branches (except that they belong to a neighbor a block away):


I'll have another post shortly regarding my thoughts on the Hood River Weather site's new addition: the live chat window.

Don't Breathe Advisory

As I rounded the corner from Rowena to The Dalles on my morning commute today, I was apparently teleported to the Los Angeles air basin. Or at least that's what the sky looked like. Visibility appeared to be less than 5 miles, pretty unusual for around here.

The National Weather Service isn't too impressed with the air quality either. An Air Stagnation Advisory is in effect for the Gorge and Eastern Oregon. The advisory expires at noon tomorrow (if we don't expire first), as a Pacific weather system moves in to hopefully stir things up.

But, by all means, keep burning those piles of leaves and brush!

View this morning looking west towards The Dalles

Warm Storm

Today was (and still is) a totally fascinating weather day in Hood River. For me, it started at 5 am as I staggered out onto the deck with my first cup of coffee. I had heard the wind howling earlier in the night and figured the broken clouds might provide an excellent view of the full moon. I wasn't disappointed. I attempted to take some pictures of the moon with the clouds swirling past it. No go. Kinda looks like a blurry streetlight. My picture taking skills definitely need some work.

Anyway, we had a peak gust at our house of 36 mph at 6:23 am. That's the second highest gust of the year here, surpassed only by the 37 mph gust on January 17.

This is an unseasonably warm storm. This morning's low of 57 most likely set a record for the "high low" for any Nov 12. The previous record was 48 degrees in 1999. Then, afternoon temperatures warmed up to 65 degrees, tying the record high set in 1990. At my workplace in The Dalles, the high reached a balmy 74 degrees. (Don't ya just love the word "balmy"?)

As I write this (6:05 pm), it's still 60 degrees out, and raining heavily. Regionally, there is some concern about localized flooding, but this early in the season there's not enough snow to melt to cause more severe widespread flooding. It's more a problem with leaves clogging storm drains and water backing up.

I sure do enjoy stormy weather, just short of the point where it starts destroying things.

First Frost

This morning's low of 30 degrees at our weather station and 29 degrees at AGRIMET marked the first official below freezing temperature at the Hood River city elevation this Fall. It's a little earlier than average (Oct 20); once again global warming has failed miserably in extending the growing season here. Maybe next year.

It looks like I was able to temporarily save our very abundant pepper crop last night by covering it with Reemay fabric (from Good News Gardening), which can protect down to 30 degrees. The peppers do appear slightly stunned this morning but not melted, unlike the cucumber and squash plants which were unprotected. The tomatoes were barely nipped, since they are more protected by being up against the south side of the house.

One more cold night tonight, and then temperatures should moderate. The forecasts indicate no rain at least through next weekend.

Mt Adams has a bright shiny new coat of snow, as seen from our house:

Indian Summer (Debatably)

The expression Indian Summer might not be all that politically correct anymore, but it sure is a great time of the year. Native Americans can be proud. Besides, what's not to like about a period of warm days and cool nights after the first frost, accelerating the changing colors of the deciduous trees and shrubs?

The debatable part refers to the fact that in Hood River City proper, this beautiful warm spell isn't technically an Indian Summer yet. At our weather station, we hit a low of 35 on Sept 23, and the official MCAREC station dipped to 33. But, temperatures at slightly higher elevations went below 32, and most likely put an end to the tomato, pepper, squash, and cucumber season at those locations. Close enough to an Indian Summer for me.

The average first frost date in Hood River is Oct 20. Last year, it held off until Oct 26. The year before, Oct 10th.

Speaking of debatable, how about that Presidential debate? Since neither candidate screwed up too badly, I suspect each side is convinced that its candidate clearly "won". What is clear is that there is a distinct difference in personality and viewpoints, and how future challenges will be perceived and acted upon.

What is not so clear to me is whether who wins the election will make much of a difference. Fiscal irresponsibility and bad decisions, past and present, have set our country on an economic course that is probably not reversible in time to avoid some historically huge icebergs ahead. And whoever is President over the next 4 years will have their hands tied as to their options.

Like most people, I vote for the candidate whose stand on the issues and approach to problem solving is most aligned with mine. I'm pretty independent; political party affiliation is way down on my list of things to consider, especially since I don't hardly even recognize Republican or Democratic actions anymore. Years ago the Republicans were the more fiscally responsible party (pre-Reagan), but that notion is long gone. Now it's borrow and spend. Or, if you prefer tax and spend, the Democrats will be happy to oblige. But how about "live within one's means"? How quaint of a notion is that?

At this point, I'll probably be voting for Obama. He lives more in the current and future world than McCain. He's younger, more flexible, more open to new data and approaches, not driven by religious dogma, and hopefully not so prone to solving future problems with yesterday's worn out solutions. Besides, it's time to let someone from a different party other than Republicans fail miserably over the next 4 years.

Good luck to whoever wins this election. They will definitely need it.

Never Mind

I guess I spoke too soon in the previous post. With the Feds apparently about to step in and cushion the collapse of giant AIG insurance company with taxpayer dollars, all is now good with the stock market. There will probably be a big jump in stocks tomorrow.

So here's the current investing plan: When the Feds appear to be stepping in and helping support otherwise bankrupt companies, the stock market will soar. When the Feds appear to be holding back from such taxpayer support, the stock market will plummet.

This would be really exciting, if it weren't so damn depressing and potentially catastrophic.

There seems to be a fire somewhere up valley from here (here being May and Rand Street); the evening sun is turning orange from the smoke. Haven't seen anything on the news about it yet; hopefully no homes are in danger.

9/17 update: It's apprently the Gnarl Ridge fire on the east flank of Mt Hood, which was started by lightening in early August and has re-emerged.

Harvested some pumpkins this past weekend (mellowed by the currently orange sunlight):

Snow

Yep, it snowed today. March 28th. Amazing. Snow this time of the year in Hood River is not unheard of, but it's very unusual, especially for the past few decades. We had 2 inches on our deck by 8 am this morning. It melted away by noon, but snow flurries have continued sporadically all day. Today's high temperature only reached 39 degrees at our house, which ties the "lowest high" record for the date set in 1936. Since official Hood River records are kept by the OSU Ag Station, this may have actually broken that record. Tomorrow's "lowest high" record of 42 degrees (also in 1936) might fall, as cold, wet, and probably snowy weather is forecast thru Saturday noon. Things should start warming by Sunday into next week.

The last date in the Spring in Hood River that has ever received measurable snow is April 4th in (yep, you guessed it)...1936.

January Revisited

January was another entertaining weather month. Colder, windier, and slightly wetter than average, January had enough variable weather to satisfy even the most jaded weather junkie.

January's average temperature was 1.5 degrees cooler than long term averages, and 4.5 degrees below 2000-2006 averages. Snowfall was 23.5 inches, well above the historical average of 14.4 inches. Much higher snow amounts were recorded in the middle and upper valleys. Wind speeds were above average, with WSW winds predominate. That's unusual for January; east winds usually prevail. There were no depressing extended inversion events during the month, continuing this winter's very welcome "no-inversion" pattern.


There were 2 local weather records set in January. 15 inches of snow fell on January 26, breaking the old record for the date of 9 inches (1933). And, in a unofficial record, the barometer dipped to 28.91 inches on January 4th. The previous low baro at our station was 28.94 in 2002.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average	Variance
Temperature (F)	49.0	10.0	32.4	33.9	-1.5
Wind (mph)	37		1.9	1.5	0.4
Rainfall (in)	1.16		5.30	5.20	0.10

Is This Unusual Or What

January 17th. The middle of winter. Clear outside with very strong west winds. So what is wrong with this picture?

Nothing. It's absolutely beautiful out. But... this is VERY unusual weather for this time of the year. Typically, we would be in the cold inversion foggy east wind pattern, and Portland would be sunny. But it's exactly the opposite right now. Strong west winds, relatively warm at 40 degrees. This more resembles an early March weather pattern. How great is this??

Here's the Portland fog/cloud layer today that has stopped just west of Hood River:


And here's our view today of Mt Adams, a volcano about 40 miles due north, in all its snow covered glory (12,300 ft high):

Autumn Stats

Here are the numbers for this past autumn's weather (September through November). The temperature averaged 51.7 degrees. This was 0.6 degrees warmer than the long term average (1926 thru 2006), but 0.7 degrees cooler than the short term average (2000 thru 2006). Pretty much a draw.

Autumn precipitation was 9.97", wetter than the long term average of 8.14". The snowfall at our house in west Hood River was 5 inches. An average autumn in Hood River receives 2.3 inches of snow. The historical record for autumn snowfall is 32 inches (1973).

Wind speed averaged 2.3 mph, pretty close to the 2000 thru 2006 average of 2.5 mph.

My previous prediction for this autumn's weather was "warmer and drier". This further establishes my uncanny ability to make inaccurate weather predictions.

Rain And Then Some

Ever since I made my prediction that this Fall would be drier than normal, it has been raining practically nonstop. Last Thursday's (Oct 18) rain of 1.17 inches drowned the previous record for the date of 0.39 inches set in 1996. As of right now, we are 2.61 inches above normal since October 1.

But I'm not complaining. The more rain (and mountain snow), the better. Especially since new reports indicate that Mt. Hood's glaciers, like most of the planet's glaciers, have been shrinking rather dramatically. This can't be a good thing, especially for water supplies.

Shine On

The full moon closest to the autumnal equinox is called the Harvest moon. There are several reasons why. The reason that is almost too obvious to mention (but I will), is that this is a peak harvest time of the year. Throughout history, farmers could continue harvesting well into the night.

Also, just as the sun rises directly east and sets directly west on the first day of Fall, so does the moonrise and moonset around this time of the year. This puts the moon pretty much directly overhead in the night sky, rather than lower in the sky, which makes the lighting a little bit brighter than usual.

Fire In The Hood!

The west side of Hood River dodged a potentially major bullet yesterday afternoon. A brush fire, whipped along by winds averaging 20 to 25 mph, advanced quickly towards the subdivision bounded by 30th Street, May Street, Cascade Ave, and Rand Road. This also happens to be the neighborhood in which we (and our weather station) live.

Firefighters were able to stop the blaze just short of the houses, but not before somewhere around 50 homes were evacuated. We are about 2 streets south of the evacuation zone, but with smoke and ash flying all around, we had started the process of moving some items into our vehicles just in case.

Way too much excitment (tinged with uncertainty, adrenaline, and a touch of fear) for a Saturday afternoon.

Many thanks go out to all the firefighters and other personnel involved in containing this fire.

Rain!

The slight chance of rain mentioned earlier this week has become an absolute certainty of rain today. I woke up this morning about 2 am to the gentle sound of raindrops on the plants outside the open bedroom window. Rain is very unusual here for midsummer and also very welcome, especially since there doesn't seem to be thunderstorms involved (yet). One can almost hear the garden sighing in relief as it soaks up the moisture. Not to mention the human sighs of relief from those of us who are getting really tired of watering.

0.55 inches so far today. The record for this date is 0.70 inches in 1987. There is a lot of moisture streaming our way in the satellite maps, so we shall see if the record holds.

Record Shattered

Yes indeed; yesterday's high of 101 broke the previous record high for the date of 94 degrees set in 1994. Today the bar is raised considerably; 100 degrees in 2002. Forecasts are calling for 100 degrees, so it's going to be close, especially if the clouds go away. It also depends on the barometric pressure differential through the Gorge, and therefore wind direction. Right now, it's 29.88 in Portland, 29.90 in Hood River, and 29.94 in The Dalles. Since winds flow from high pressure to low pressure, we have a slight east wind currently. This will likely shift to a west wind sometime this afternoon or evening, and bring cooler temperatures with it.

Very interesting animated cloud pattern over the Western US this morning. Moisture originating from the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific equatorial area is streaming north and west over Oregon and California. If this continues, we could be in for some pretty dramatic thunderstorm activity.

2 Days of Summer

We get summer-like weather today and tomorrow, and then... summer actually begins Thursday June 21 at 11:06 am. Longest day of the year! Yeehaw...

Unfortunately, the weather then takes a un-summer-like downturn on Thursday thru the weekend (who'd have guessed?). For the most part, weekend downturns have been the rule this Spring (see previous posts). But still.... it's all good... it's all weather.

Lots of great local events happening this summer; check 'em out at the Hood River Chamber site.

Web Poll Feb 26

Cool, rainy and possibly snowy during the coming week. This morning, though, we are enjoying partly sunny skies (In the winter, I much prefer that phrase to "partly cloudy skies").

(Picture from our house in Hood River looking at Underwood Mt across the River in WA)

A new web poll this week regarding political leanings, suggested by Rick H. I myself am sitting on the fence at "neutral". In fiscal areas I am pretty conservative, and in social areas and foreign affairs more liberal. Currently it sort of balances out to neutral. Unfortunately, both major political parties aren't all that different anymore and neither of them are particularly fiscally responsible or seemingly even capable of dealing with long term issues that don't appear to require urgent immediate action but actually really do. Like climate change, energy policies, budget deficits, health care reform, social security and medicare funding...

I think it's human nature to allow big, slowly developing problems to just kinda sort themselves out, especially if the immediate choices are painful, difficult, or involve sacrifices. It's easier to put them off. Unfortunately, we might not be very happy with the future results of putting things off.

Regarding past web site polls, I am somewhat relieved that 88% of site viewers are either happy with the HR Weather Site layout, or have no opinion. I do plan on creating a more state of the art site design at some point. "After retirement" sounds like a reasonable plan. (See? It's only human nature, or least mine, to procrastinate...)

Never Mind

I take back everything I said in the previous post. It's a beautiful day in Hood River (and a weekend day at that!), a little cold, but sunny. Enjoy.