It's 37 degrees in the middle of May. 37 degrees Celsius, that is -- it's 98.4 Fahrenheit, according to my fancy-schmancy little weather station. It's nice that the cool, rainy weather is finally gone, but a few 70 degree days in there would have been nice before the big jump towards the century mark!
At least this will finally dry my back yard out good... :-)
Saturday, April 12th, greeted us with unusually warm temperatures, with sunny skies and a high of 82F (28C). So we took advantage of it and spent the day at the Oregon Zoo...
Maybe spring will arrive next week... :-(
[Click on photos to enlarge.]
This past Saturday brought with it a ray of sunshine...
After a winter full of wind, rain, cold, and snow, it was nice to feel the sun on my back and temperatures up in the mid 50's again. It was so nice, in fact, that I simply couldn't stand spending the day inside with the kids (as much as I love doing that), I just had to get out.
I was able to spray the invading onslaught weeds and [attempt] to kill the moss growing on our driveway. Time will tell how effective the moss treatment was, but hopefully it will at least make things a little easier for my annual Spring pressure-washing. Don't tell Steph, but I also did a little Round-Up edging... she hates it, but things are just too muddy right now to do any real edging, so Round-Up it is. I'm sure Grandpa Dougie would agree with me on this one. :-)
We've had some crazy weather this winter, which is great for a weather geek like myself, but I'm ready for a few more days like Saturday...
Something pretty rare happened today... we got a dump of snow. It is absolutely beautiful, yet absolutely aggravating at the same time.
While the snow is very beautiful, it is also very frustrating. We didn't even try to make any deliveries today because the Portland freeways were clogged with jackknifed trucks, spun-out SUV's, and abandoned cars. By 11:30, about the time we were considering venturing out, the Department of Transportation posted a chain requirement for all vehicles... and we don't have chains for our truck, so we just stayed put. I just hope the roads improve tomorrow... we really need to get some product delivered.
We didn't get many calls at work, as most of our customers just shut down for the day. So we went home early, too. I made it home by about 2:30, and found Steph and the kids out playing in the snow...
I know this won't seem like much snow to our Canadian viewers, but trust me; it's enough to make a mess of things on the Portland area freeways. If they would actually plow/sand/salt the highways to a respectable degree it might be a different story... this morning's snow was quite dry and should have been easy to plow, but the sections of highway I saw pictured on the web didn't even look they had seen a single snowplow. What a mess...
We had our own little Christmas last night because it was our only chance before we leave for Canada (we leave tomorrow!).
Steph got me this really cool weather station, which has a wireless outdoor unit and an indoor display unit. Well, this morning when I got up, it was 29 degrees Fahrenheit (-2 Celsius) outside with 88% humidity. No wonder it feels so cold out there. Brrrr...
Of course, the upside to this dampness is the beautiful frost that has lingered for the past few days. Trees, shrubs, weeds, spiderwebs and blades of grass are all coated with a thick layer of frost... it almost looks like snow... but more delicate. It's not quite so beautiful when you are walking out in the cold, but it is quite lovely when viewed through a window. :-)
We only have to put up with this wet cold for another 24 hours or so... then it is of to the land of the dry cold. It's -11C in Grande Prairie right now... about average for this time of year. But it won't feel as cold as our -2C with high humidity!
Edit: I just checked GP's weather... they currently have 86% humidity... so maybe it won't be a dry cold, eh?!?!
It must be just about time for Noah's birthday party, because it is HOT again. It's hot enough that this post deserves it's own weather sticker...
Now where did I put my iced tea? ;-)
[Edit 24Jul06] The big heat seems to have gone... for now... but I will leave the sticker up anyway. We had 103 on Friday, close to 100 with high humidity on Saturday, and then back up over 103 again on Sunday. Today's 98 is still quite warm, but they are forcasting a minor cool-down for the middle of the week.
But next week is Vacation Bible School at church... and that always means one of the hottest days of the week... so I expect the heat to be back again.
What do you get when you mix clay soil with 21 hours of heavy rain?
In the words of Led Zeppelin, If it keeps on rainin', the levees gonna break...
This great cartoon was in the Molalla Pioneer yesterday:
If you live in the Portland area, just turn on your TV right now... you will find the similarities to be uncanny. They had been forecasting a definite 3-5 inches of snow on the valley floor all day, with snow starting 8:00 pm - 10:00 pm tonight. Now the pinpoint forecast calls for a chance of snow beginning 4:00 am - 8:00 am tomorrow morning, with a worst case scenario of 1-3 inches, and temperatures rising into the mid 40's by midday.
Jethro's forecast: Nada. Zip. Zilch. Just good old-fashioned Oregon rain... another sky-is-falling-moment brought to you by your local news stations, grocery stores, and tire centers.
Score for this round:
Jethro: 1
Mark Nelson: 1
Other Local Weatherpersons: 0
The local news this morning was pure comedy. The Winter Blast (that didn't happen) was still the top story. Reporters were spread out all over the Portland area with the hopes of seeing a snowflake. They posed in front of idle sanding and de-icing trucks. They interviewed Tri-Met transit bus officials about how this weather would affect operation. Only at the highest point of the West Hills did the dreaded snowflakes make their appearance... but they didn't even have the courtesy to stick around, they just melted on impact. But still, don't go out of your houses if you don't have to... it's a crazy, almost snowy world out there... you're better off sitting on the couch watching your local news channel...
[Fairness Disclaimer: In all fairness, I did see Mark "Baby-Face" Nelson's forecast the night before the almost-winter-blast, and he was the lone local forecaster to predict NO snow on the valley floor. Kudos to Mark for going against the flow and making a realistic forecast.]
A steady downpour of rain has returned to Oregon this morning, and I have returned to my weblog... hopefully.
I absolutely love when it rains like this, but it does cause a few problems. I arrived at work this morning to find water flowing over the gutters above the shop doors. These very same shop doors are used to move corrugated cardboard in and out of the shop... moving cardboard through a waterfall doesn't work very well.
I put on my rubber boots and checked all the cleanouts, but found nothing blocking the way. After climbing an extension ladder to get a better look, I quickly found the problem. Several large maple leaves (probably from yesterday morning's wind storm) were clogging the downspout. It was a pretty easy fix, but I still got soaked in the process.
Now I have to go pick up Noah from his daycare provider... the poor guy has a fever and just isn't feeling very well. I think we will go home and have soup for lunch... it just seems appropriate on such a rainy day.