It's Been Raining for 17 Straight Days

Sometimes, and usually unfortunately, the weather reports are true. As of today, it's been raining for 17 straight days.

Well, wait—18 straight days. "November 30th we had a trace of precipitation," says Liana Brackett, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, over the phone. "Not quite 100th of an inch, but just enough to wet the ground."

There are now 18-day-old babies in Portland who have never experienced a dry day in their lives.

And more tough luck to come, infants of the flood! Brackett adds: "We actually don't have a full dry day on the horizon."

What she means is that out to next Sunday, when the predictions are considered to be reliable, there is rain predicted every single day. After that, she says, the predictive models disagree. So theoretically, it could rain forever.

Ask the rain babies. As far as they know, it already has been raining forever.

Does this make you sad? Well, at least we're going to have a cold and wet Christmas, though probably not the kind of cold and wet you were hoping for.

"Highs will top out in the lower 40s with lows in the lower 30s," says Brackett, but when pressed on whether this will mean snow for the sodden people of Portland she says: "The main best chance for snow will be at the higher elevations. It won't get down to the valley floor."

Isn't that always the way? Welcome to Oregon, dear babies, and hold on. July will be worth it, and by then you'll even be able to hold your head up all by yourself and see blue skies out the window.

Willamette Week