Less Rain and Mild Winters Now (Eugene: trees, county, place)

[O-Ducky]

After last winter I'm getting the impression that the Northwest's winter weather may be changing. I remember hiking in January, in the Cascades West of Eugene, at around 3,500 ft, and there was no snow. It barely rained last winter and spring and the temperature was very mild. Is there a major change taking place with the weather? I guess we'll find out soon.

[Smiled]

How many NW winters have you seen? The warming IS a trend, but individual weather years are quite variable. The prediction is for more of the precip to fall as rain.

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

The winter of 2009-10 was the hardest winter we've seen on the south coast of Oregon in over 20 years. Many shrubs and trees were killed to the ground. The Rogue Valley had temperatures close to zero last year. I can't see where you think this "mild winter" is coming from.

[O-Ducky]

Originally Posted by Brenda-by-the-sea

The winter of 2009-10 was the hardest winter we've seen on the south coast of Oregon in over 20 years. Many shrubs and trees were killed to the ground. The Rogue Valley had temperatures close to zero last year. I can't see where you think this "mild winter" is coming from.

Yeah well, that was a very unexpected freeze and it left just as quick as it came (While that was going on I was soaking in the Upper Umpqua hotsprings). And was that last winter? I think your talking about the winter before. Like I said, I was almost 4,000 feet up in the Cascades all winter and never saw snow once, and it didn't rain much either. The rain, and the little snow, came late. It was a very mild winter.

[Larry Caldwell]

Originally Posted by O-Ducky

After last winter I'm getting the impression that the Northwest's winter weather may be changing. I remember hiking in January, in the Cascades West of Eugene, at around 3,500 ft, and there was no snow. It barely rained last winter and spring and the temperature was very mild. Is there a major change taking place with the weather? I guess we'll find out soon.

Why yes, the weather does change. Good of you to notice.

[Steve Pickering]

And it snowed here in Coos County last night.

[O-Ducky]

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

And it snowed here in Coos County last night.

whooa

[Steve Pickering]

Raining hard now for the fourth day in a row.

[tablemtn]

I don't think that western Oregon has actually seen a really intense winter storm since the storm in February 1989, actually. As in, one that sweeps in and dumps several feet of snow over a widespread part of the lowlands.

As for overall precipitation, it don't think the last few years have been particularly dry compared to the average of the past 50 or so.

[Larry Caldwell]

If you want to know about climate in the PNW, google Pacific Multi-Decadal Oscillation. That cycle has been pretty constant even through the last ice age, and it's still going on.