There may have been a slight decrease in the local frog population after the heavy downpours that roared through Clark County Tuesday afternoon and evening. I mean if you experienced these at your house, they were indeed a classic frog strangler. No doubt about it.
Portland airport had its heaviest one-hour rainfall since records were kept at that location 70 years ago, not to mention a new daily rainfall record for the date. Vancouver’s official rain tally for Tuesday was only 0.57 of an inch, about a third of what Portland had.
The showers and embedded thunderstorms were scattered and locally intense. My daughter, Sara, recorded one-half inch of rain in just minutes at her home a few short blocks south of Skyview High School around 2 p.m. Tuesday. Streets in the Salmon Creek area were flooded curb to curb, and there was ponding of water in many yards and gardens. Any resting frogs in those downspouts are now, well, let’s say may have croaked.
Other reports of heavy rain were nearly 1 inch in just 15 minutes in east Vancouver. All of this was associated with the rain that saturated many areas north of Clark County in Western Washington on Labor Day. I guess that was the price we paid for a dry three-day weekend, eh?
