It certainly felt to me like early November outside Wednesday afternoon with moderate to heavy rain and temperatures in the mid-50s. Needless to say it will not be our driest December with yet another storm due in by Friday.
We do get a break over New Year’s, if everything pans out, and the mountains will get some snowfall Friday as well. Good thing because nothing but rain has fallen up there for the past couple of days. Timberline had over 5 inches of rain and skiing operations were shut down due to poor weather conditions at Meadows on Wednesday.
Very impressive 24-hour rainfall totals in the mountains as of 5 p.m. Wednesday with Timberline at 6.87 inches; Government Camp, 4.35 inches, Mt. Hood Meadows, 5.85 inches and Lee’s Camp in the coastal mountains with 8.03 inches. Can you imagine if that was the water equivalent to snowfall? There would have been over 5 feet of snow on Mount Hood.
This week has kind of reminded me of the old saying, “When it rains, it pours.” Goodness, how true that is. I guess that is something to pass along to the folks back home that we finally got our weather back. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday my rainfall total for the month was still less than 2 inches.
Something to mark on your calendar for 7 to 9 p.m. Jan. 25: The Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorology Society will host its January meeting at the Portland Airport Shilo Inn. It will be in the Convention Center Ballroom at 11707 N.E. Airport Way. There will be a no-host social hour from 5 to 7 p.m. in the restaurant.
The meeting will have a panel of experts discussing anthropogenic (human-caused) global warming. They will look at the science, both the logic and evidence. The question, “Is human-caused global warming the greatest scientific myth of our generation?”
The speakers will be former Oregon state climatologist George Taylor, meteorologist Chuck Weise and physicist Gordon Fulks. It is a free event and open to the public. Besides the general discussion they will present their own predictions for the future and a question-and-answer session at the conclusion of the evening. It should be an interesting and fact-filled evening. Hope to see you there.
Meanwhile, keep dry and be aware that the air will cool down significantly later on Friday.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://weathersystems.com.
