Rainy Days and January Plus Flooding

So far the winter has been pretty much mild as far as temperatures go. Mainly it has been the upper 40s and 50s. Most years it is in the 30s and 40s. Also, we have only had one snow fall back in November. It was only about an inch so only lasted one day.

January started out with a good rainfall along with some flooding in places. Gig Harbor does not get much flooding. It may occur in some individual homes or neighborhoods. Sometimes the roads will get a lot of water on them. Most of the flooding happens either north of Seattle or south of Olympia. If you are not familiar with Olympia it is the capital of Washington State. It takes about forty-five minutes drive to from Gig Harbor depending on the traffic. A lot of times traffic will slow down around near Ft. Lewis and McCord. The state is looking at improving the interstate around the area to help ease traffic.

The flooding usually happens around the areas that have a lot of rivers. People are quite used to it since it happens several times every year. Hoquiam and Aberdeen which are twin cities going toward the coast had flooding along with landslides. It was quite interesting to see pictures of what happened.

2014 the weather department said that Washington State had higher rainfall than usual; at least ten inches more than normal. I found it as a surprise because the year felt like a lot of times where the sun was out more. I thought this way because of my walking. I believe it rained more than usual because when the rained happened it was a lot harder. Most of the time around here it does not rain very hard though it does rain often.

I am not sure whether it is global warming or whatever, the weather here is a lot milder than when I was growing up. The mountains do not have as much snow, or at least takes longer to come now than I remember. The skiing is not happening as longer as it used to do. It is tough on the ski passes and those who work at them. Of course, those who like to ski do not have as long a season.

When I was in junior high I always walked home from school. It was not more than maybe a mile and a half to get home. In the winter I was always prepared for the rain or the snow. My mother would leave me off at the school on her way into Tacoma. She taught French and German at Wilson High School. Also, she was the girls swim coach. She had a very good team. The swimming program was really good in Tacoma. Several swimmers went onto swim in the Olympics. I did ride the bus to school in both elementary and high school. So I was prepared to for rain and snow at the bus stop. In elementary school I waited just outside of our yard, however, I did have to walk a little distance to catch the bus in high school. Sometimes my dad would leave my brother Jack and I off at the elementary school. It was on the way to work for him too.

I can really say those were the days. I was not a big fan of school but I did enjoy recess and playing sports at school. Gig Harbor being a small town it was easy to know everyone. It is still a small town though it is larger than in those days.