The Cellar - Winter

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- - Winter - 2010 (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=24002)

Past couple of days were really nice, sunny and briskly cold.
Unfortunately, overnight we're back to PDX's typical drizzle

Anyone get to see the Winter Solstice eclipse ?

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Oooooops, it's going to happen tonight, Dec 20 - 21 !
My mistake

Brrrrr.... PDX is supposed to get down to 24 F tonight.
I know, that's nothing compared to the midwest but it's well beyond chilly for us.

This cold is in coming from eastern Oregon where it's predicted to be -14 tonight on the OR-ID border.

We did have some ice on the roads, but with no rain it has been going away.

we had a little earthquake - some thunder - 60 degrees - tornados - all in winter.

End Times??

68 Degrees in Savannah today, 70 on Monday.

Another spectacular sunrise in the Willamette Valley...

Portland, OR. int'l airport.

Oh yeah, lighter lives at the airport. I forgot.

Just call him Viktor.

What's the vector, Viktor?

NW Oregon is seeing high water and landslides from a major rain and wind storm.
Landslides are fairly common this time of year when the ground has been soaked.
Several roads in the Coastal and Cascade ranges are now closed, often in both directions.

The Sandy River drains west on Mt Hood, and is famous from journals
of Lewis and Clark (quicksand) and diaries of people on the Oregon Trail.
Yesterday, it came very close to setting a new record...

The fellows in this rig by the Wilson River were very lucky in the timing of this slide.
These are their comments from another forum.

Quote:

We were at milepost 6. Pics were taken around 8. We hit the slide around 5:30. The dent in the rig was from the root ball behind us hitting the side I'm pretty sure. (we heard it hit us when the slide began). I jumped out of the rig after the initial slide and before the rig started moving out of the right lane and toward the river. The mud was almost waist deep but I managed to get back to solid ground only to look back and see the whole setup shifting again. I was quite happy when the water broke through the mud and the slide stopped! Dad would have been gone for sure.
<snip>
While we were workin on things, the telephone wires and poles started swaying something fierce. After a short walk west, we found another slide that made this one look like a dream. Huge trees fell and took out the power lines on the opposite side of the road. This new slide was over 100 yards wide and 20 foot tall....wicked. I wanted to climb up it for some pics but with the downed lines and given the terrain it just looked too unstable. They hadn't started on it when we got out at 11. My guess is the highway will be closed for a while.

This video is of the Sandy River on 1/16/11 (see my 1/1711 post just above)
It was posted on another forum. The credits say it was done by Alexandra Erikson

Awesome power... although the Sandy is a very small river,
it is usually just a bit too big to wade across in the summer.
It is usually fished for salmon from the bank and by driftboat
Not today !

Everyone on line is commenting on the number of trees in the river.
The road over LoLo Pass (in the video) was eventually washed out completely, and is now closed.

Here is another link with still pic's

When a "blue norther" swallows the midwest and then moves east,
the cold spreads west into Oregon and down the Columbia River Gorge.

East of the Cascades, we often get freezing rain with the east winds.
But then, we can also get spectacular clear and cold. That's today !!!

Portlanders truly appreciate clear winter mornings because
more often than not it is cloudy or low fog, if not raining.

Today, it was well worth being up just before sunrise to enjoy the stars
and spreading colors of light, a cold light breeze, and restless firs.

Knowing the steelhead are already in the rivers helps too.

I am awaiting the arrival of the Groundhog.

I cut through my side yard and walk down my neighbor's driveway on my walk to the Metro each day. This morning, I briefly felt like a kid again. Her driveway (which I shoveled on Sunday) had a very thin coat of ice. Thin enough that if you wanted to walk on it, you could. But thick enough that if you wanted to slide on it, you also could. It slopes gently downhill, so I took a few steps and pushed off. Slid gracefully down the length of the driveway in a surfer's stance.

I drove to work and back this morning, choosing to drive the 4x4 GMC pickup, in an effort to offend tw. No students today but being a non-union contractor means I need to make pointless gestures instead of working from home.

Ugh.

Yesterday it was 80 degrees, and we went to the playground in tank tops. Today it is 20 degrees, and tonight the wind chill is supposed to take it to -5. That's just plain retarded. People around here don't know how to deal with cold, myself included.

It was absolutely beautiful here yesterday as well. In the mid 80's. Today it is 49 or something close. Spring is near.