Wow what a wild ride we’ve been on for the last few weeks. From the record high temperatures we saw over the weekend — we’re dropping nearly 30 degrees to daytime highs 10 degrees below average for this time of year. Throw in lightning strikes to the tune of nearly 3,000 in a single hour (and numerous power outages as a result) and I feel like we need to just stop a while to take a deep breath. Meanwhile – tonight and tomorrow we’re calling for showers and snow levels down to near 4,500 feet and several inches of snow possible in the mountains. The good news is we’re going to dry back out for the weekend and warm back up just in time to get outside and enjoy ourselves a bit.

Cheers

…is headed our way over the next few days. The heaviest rain will fall at the coast and in the coast range mountains. Which is why flood watches and warnings are posted for Coos, Curry, parts of western Siskiyou and Josephine counties. We’re watching the Coquille, the North Fork Coquille, South Fork Coquille as well as the Illinois and even the Rogue rivers. Also watch for small stream and urban flooding in areas prone to high water. Remember – never try to drive through a flooded roadway. The catch phrase is “turn around – don’t drown”. We’re also concerned about the potential for mudslides and wind caused power outages. Always be prepared for weather emergencies.

The good news is we’ll see a break in the weather every now and then – so you’ll have a chance to see a little blue sky.

Safety first.

We’ve seen quite a mix of weather over the last few days. Clouds, rain, snow, graupel, wind and even a little bit of sunshine. Over the next few days we’ll see more of the same. Colder than usual daytime highs combined with clouds and showers. All this rain has led to some flooding issues in Coos, Curry and Douglas Counties with more expected through  the end of the week. But – spring begins officially tomorrow with the Vernal Equinox. So with a little luck we’ll start to see the warmer – more seasonal weather begin soon.

I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

  We’ve had non-stop rain lately and even some snow. Every single day since March 10th, we’ve had precipitation totaling up to 1.58″ in the past eight days. We’ve already seen above normal precipitation for what we’d typically expect for the whole month of March, and March isn’t over yet!

1.71″ is what’s considered average for the entire month of March. As of March 18, we’ve seen a total of 1.74″ in the rain gauge.

And much more rain is on the way as the wet weather pattern continues.

It’s the reason the Coquille River is flooding its banks. A flood warning is in effect in Coquille and just when the waters are expected to drop back down, more heavy rain is expected to move into the area, causing additional rises. Flood stage for the river is at 21′.

  It’s Flood Safety Awareness Week from March 12-16 and talk about timing, a very active weather pattern this week is set to bring heavy rain and rising snow levels which may cause rising rivers and possibly flooded roads and driveways.

Except for heat related deaths, there are more flood related deaths than any other weather related hazard, according to the National Weather Service.

And when it comes to a thunderstorm related hazard, each year more deaths are caused by flooding than anything else.

The main reason is that we tend to underestimate the power of water, especially during a flash flood. Many flooding deaths happen in vehicles when they get swept downstream.

The National Weather Service says many of these could have been prevented, so they launched a campaign titled “Turn Around Don’t Drown.”

To find out more about Flood Safety Awareness Week, click here. 

Well we’ve had a little taste of the spring to come and it’ll last another day or two but then it’s right back to winter. Sorry. Tomorrow we’ll see another sunny day with highs in the 65 to 70 range and then – starting Friday night – we transition right back into winter. Clouds and rain move in over the weekend and last at least until the middle of next week. We’ll see our daytime highs fall back into the 45-50 range. So take advantage of the sunny days while you can – winter is not done with us yet.

As we make our way into the month of March, we’re getting a bigger picture of what February was really like.

You might remember this February for serving up some big-time winter weather near the end of the month, but you may have forgotten that the month actually started out with nothing but sunshine.

We got to enjoy nine days of blue skies, nine days of partly sunny skies and only 11 cloudy days. Typically for February, it’s more like only four sunny days with 25 cloudy or partly cloudy days.

We were a bit foggier though, usually foggy days drop from 12 in January to six in February but this February we counted 14 days with foggy mornings.

Overall, the month started out with strong high pressure locked in place, which kept weather makers at bay. This set-up brought warmer than normal temperatures for the first ten days of the month.

Once that pattern broke, numerous storm systems began to set up shop in our region which meant multiple days of precipitation and below normal temperatures.

And talk about a mixed bag of weather, a major winter storm moved in on Feb. 28 and brought a good mix of rain, snow and wind to the Rogue Valley.

Even with all of that said, we were actually very close to normal for February, as far as temperatures and precipitation go.

53.7 degrees was the average high and 54.3 is what we consider normal. 32.8 degrees was the average overnight low temperature and 34.1 is normal.

As far as precip goes, the rain gauge measured 2.19 inches of liquid equivalent and 2.01 is what we would typically expect this time of year.

  One of the most famous caldera lakes in the country is mistitled. Crater Lake is actually a caldera lake.

This is something I recently learned in my studies at Mississippi State University and I thought it was just so interesting that I wanted to share it with you.

Crater lakes are formed from explosive excavation, while caldera lakes form when the top of the volcano collapses.

Crater Lake sits at the top of Mount Mazama. It formed about 7,700 years ago when the top 5,000 feet of the mountain just collapsed. Lava solidified, sealing the bottom so the water couldn’t go anywhere.

If Crater Lake were truly a crater, the side of Mount Mazama would have blown out but it didn’t, the mountain collapsed into itself, lava solidified blocking the throat and Crater Lake was formed as a caldera.

Thought I’d bring you up to date on my home remodel project just to change things up a bit. So far I’ve replaced all 20 windows – which included cutting them out of the stucco siding – re-framing – replacing and re-stuccoing. I’ve torn down and replaced a section of exterior wall. Tore out a 1/2 bath and built a new full bath on the opposite side of the house. Right now I’m putting the finishing touches on that new full bath and hope to have it completed in about three weeks. After that I’ll repaint the exterior – weather permitting - and finish the rest of the newly remodeled basement. Then trim out all the new windows on the interior side – after I insulate the upper floors.  Eventually we hope to remodel the upstairs bath and the kitchen. But those are going to be down the road a bit. So if I look a bit worn down – now you know why. I’ve basically been working a job and half since early July of last year.

Wish me luck.

is back. Had a pretty good storm last night. It dumped 10 inches on Mt. Ashland and even left a light dusting of snow on the valley floors. There’s another chance of showers coming our way tomorrow night and an even better chance from Friday through the weekend and into next week. Because the snow pack is still between 70 and 75% of normal – we’ll take all we can get. Worse – when you look at the water content of the snow pack – it’s only around 65% of average for this time of year. Of course there’s still quite a bit of winter left to go which means we’ve got time to make up for the shortfall.

So try to stay warm and dry over the next few days and think “spring”.