Spring Arrival

Here in the northwest everyone is looking forward to spring because it has been a cold and wet winter. February and March have been record months far as rain goes.

We didn’t have much snow except in some areas west and north of my home town of Gig Harbor. The temperatures have been in the 30s and 40s instead of being down in the 20s. So not too bad as far as I am concerned; however we have had a lot of wind that has lowered the wind chill factor.

What I believe the problem has been in February and March is that we have had most days where it has been cloudy instead of sunny.  The last couple weeks the sun came out a couple times and then the rain would return. Even when it doesn’t rain we see a lot of cloudy days. It is a way for people to get depressed. Since I am a native I have been accustomed of this weather happening almost every year. In fact what hasn’t made me happy is that we haven’t had a lot of snow except in the mountains. When I was a kid we had snow a few times a year with four or five inches at least and occasionally ten inches.

Portland, Oregon did have a pretty good amount of snow this year. In fact in February they had around twenty inches of snow. It is unusual because twenty inches of snow happens about every twenty years. The last few years Portland has had more snow than we have. I figure the reason is that we are planted between two mountains ranges with the Cascades on the east and the Olympics on the west while Portland only has the Cascades. Whether I am right or not they do get more snow than we do.

The positive side though is both the Cascades and Olympics have had more snow this winter than they have the last few years. There has been concern about the lack of precipitation but this year they have recovered. Also lets those who like to ski the opportunity to do so.

Most of our rain comes down from Alaska and British Columbia or comes over from Hawaii as well. Once in a while we get rain coming up from California but that happens very seldom.

On the positive side with spring coming we should start seeing the sun more frequently which is a very good thing. What I do like living here in the northwest we do have all four seasons instead of just a couple like some places do. Although we haven’t had cold winters in my definition we have spring, summer and fall as well. I do look forward to seeing the sun for a few days in a row at least. Let’s come soon please or if not snow you can still come for us too.