Sean C. Morgan
It hasn’t been the wettest or coldest year on record, but summer’s late for western Oregon and the weather is affecting river levels, debris in local lakes and local farming and gardening.
Snowpack runoff will take longer than usual to melt, and Sweet Home’s lakes should be full most of the summer.
From a climatology standpoint, spring ends on May 31, but a La Niña-influenced spring has prevented warm, dry weather.
Kathie Dello, deputy director of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University, said 2011 has been “off by about a month.”
April, she said, was like a typical March in terms of temperatures and precipitation. May was what April should have been.
“It may have felt like winter, but it’s worth noting that very few daily temperatures and precipitation records were broken in western Oregon over the spring,” Dello said. “Rather, the rain was persistent and the temperatures were almost consistently below average.”
Nevertheless, some things stood out:
The Portland Airport recorded the second-wettest spring on record with 14.39 inches, just missing the mark, set in 1997, of 14.50 inches. It also was the third-coldest spring there with an average temperature of just 49.33 degrees. Records at the airport date back to 1948.
Portland, in fact, received more rain in April than in January – and maximum daily temperatures were at or above normal only 18 times in the last three months.
Corvallis didn’t even crack the top 10 for coldest springs, but it was the fifth wettest overall with 15.32 inches, and records there go back to 1889. Minimum temperatures in April averaged 37.3 degrees, which was actually two degrees colder than it was in March.
“Some volunteer spotters reported traces of snow in Deschutes County over Memorial Day weekend, and Big Red Mountain in the Siskiyous has recorded 8 inches of new snow in the last five days,” Dello said. “It’s been that kind of a spring and it’s fairly typical of La Niña years. We’ve had a deep low-pressure system anchored over the region for much of the past three months.
“Sometimes, that means a mixed bag of weather,” Dello pointed out. “Eugene has been on the cool side, but precipitation levels were about normal. However, large snowpacks and spring rain have led to flooding in eastern Oregon’s Union, Grant and Wheeler counties and moderate flooding on the lower Columbia River.”
The weather nationally has been even more chaotic, Dello said. Drawing a line from California to Wisconsin, the weather north of that line has been cooler than normal, while temperatures in the South have been much warmer, and in parts of the Northeast.
Coming up, Dello said that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration outlook for the next three months concludes there is an equal chance of being warmer or cooler than normal, but there is a chance of below-average precipitation for June, July and August.
“The bottom line is that it was a cool and damp spring,” Dello said. “But at least we didn’t have to contend with tornados like some of the country.”
Right now, even when good weather strikes, the Oregon State Marine Board is cautioning boaters to be careful launching into swift-flowing rivers and to be mindful of their wake during extreme high water. River banks are saturated, and people can easily find themselves swept away in the cold water if a bank gives way.
“We’re getting complaints from homeowners that boat wakes are damaging flooded retaining walls and adding to erosion,” said Randy Henry, Policy Analyst for the Marine Board. “Boaters are urged to stay away from river banks and operate in the main channel of local rivers.”
Henry also urges boaters to observe river conditions when launching.
“Debris and swift currents make maneuvering from the dock more challenging,” he said. “Safety-wise, we’re really concerned. It may be 80 degrees out, but the rivers are cold and swift, like February or March. It’s really a deadly combination. Should a bank give way when near a river’s edge, make sure you’re wearing a life jacket. The water is extremely cold, and cold water shock combined with swift current can be fatal.”
For more information about cold water immersion, life jackets and boating safety, visit http://www.boatoregon.com/OSMB/safety/safety.shtml.
Boaters also need to be aware of debris in the lakes.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was scheduled to use a crane this week, closing Foster Dam Monday through Wednesday, to use a crane to remove woody debris from Foster Lake.
It’s the Corps’ second effort, said spokeswoman Amy Echols. The lakes have a tremendous amount of debris. The Corps has swept the lake once and run out of containment boom.
Rivers running full for so long has pushed debris downstream into the lake, that according to a couple of boaters approaches the amount of debris from the 1996 flood.
“Every couple of years, we see these large seasonal surges of woody debris,” Echols said. “The tributaries are high. They are fast and cold. Be careful around water.”
Debris can be submerged, and that can cause problems when people aren’t expecting it, Echols said. She emphasizes the use of lifejackets and that swimmers stay aware of their limits this summer.
This will be the Corps’ last effort to remove debris this year, she said, so debris could be a problem throughout the summer.
Echols said that Foster and Green Peter reservoirs are expected to stay full all summer.
Snow melt will be slow, she said. It doesn’t have a large impact on the lakes, but the continued rain does.
“We don’t anticipate any problems,” Echols said. “What is coming into our reservoirs is being sent out.”
Overall, Corps officials are “very comfortable” with where the flows are, she said.
The wet and cold weather has also delayed the growing season for local farmers, said Dan McGrath, an Oregon State University professor in the Department of Horticulture and staff chair for the Linn County OSU Extension office.
“We’re about a month behind,” he said. “When it’s wet, you can’t plant.”
The problem with the delayed planting season is that commercial processors depend on scheduling to can and freeze vegetables and if producers can’t plant at normal times, harvest could come at inopportune times, he said.
Plants such as onions also need certain amounts of daylight to trigger bulb production, and if they can’t be planted early enough, commercial producers won’t get the bulb sizes they need, he said.
The wet weather also could result in fungus and rust problems for grass seed and grain farmers, McGrath said, though he hasn’t heard any reports of the problem being worse this year, “but one would expect that.” He said the harvest will also likely be late for the grains and seed farmers.
Strawberries, too, may be affected, he said.
“Moist weather during strawberry season causes the fruit to rot. It seems like the strawberry season got off to a slow start this year. Normally they’d be harvesting at this point.
Another effect is at farmer’s markets.
“Certainly, the bad weather dampens participation in the Saturday markets,” he said.