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.

Spring Arrives (Sort Of)

You wouldn't know it from the cold, mostly cloudy weather lately, but today marks the return of Spring. The vernal equinox, with nearly equal hours of daytime and nighttime, occurs when the tilt of the earth on its axis places the sun directly over the equator.

Whereas February in Hood River was warmer than average, March has been cooler. There have only been two days so far (March 9-10) where the high reached the low to mid 60's. Sure would be nice to have some 70 degree days, but the forecast for the rest of the month is for more of the same.

Lots of snowpack in the mountains though!

What Time It Is

Does anybody really know? With apologies to the rock band Chicago, this week's Hood River Weather poll wonders if anybody really cares, or more specifically, what time switch strategy would you prefer?

It's somewhat mind boggling that the government can force us to set our alarm clocks so as to get us up an hour earlier 8 months out of the year. But not nearly as mind boggling as the concept and perception of time itself.

I like the extension of the daylight hours into the evening with Daylight Saving Time. But, then again, it's nice to have daylight in the early morning (especially in the winter), since my job and my exercise routine get me up at 5 am. My I-84 commute to The Dalles in the dark often brings hallucinations of possible deer or rockfall dead ahead, just out of the range of my headlights. Which, at highway speeds, is not very far ahead.

So, my ideal time switch would be DST from March through October, and then a 2 hour fall-back in winter for more daylight in the morning. But, they aren't asking me, and most likely they won't.

DST reduces national energy consumption by about 1% due to reduced need for electric lighting in the evenings. Or....does it?

Maybe the best plan would be to sleep more hours in the winter (and work fewer hours). Sort of a modified hibernation. Monthly pay, of course, would have to stay the same. I'll run that by my employer and see if it flies...

February Revisited

February in Hood River was warmer, windier, and drier than average.

The average temperature was 2.8 degrees warmer than long term averages, and 3.1 degrees above 2000-2007 averages. There was no measureable snowfall at the city elevation. Wind speeds were above average, with SSW winds predominate. There were no inversion events during the month, making this winter the most fog-free winter in recent memory.

There was 1 local record set in February. On February 28, the high temperature hit 66 degrees, breaking the old record of 64 (1988)

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average	Variance
Temperature (F)	66.0	26.6	41.2	38.4	2.8
Wind (mph)	31		2.5	1.9	0.6
Rainfall (in)	1.15		3.08 (total)	3.65	-0.57