OK, before we go too far let’s review some rainfall from January from your friends and neighbors: I had 6.72 inches here at Salmon Creek; Murphy Dennis, near Clark County Rifles, 9.13 inches; Claudia Chiasson, Carson, 17.13 inches; Tyler Mode, Battle Ground, 6.86 inches; Judy Darke, Felida, 6.77 inches; Irv St. Germain, SW Prune Hill, 7.44 inches; Bob Starr, Cougar, 23.71 inches; Robin Ruzek, Lake Shore, 6.33 inches; Phil Delany, above Dole Valley, 15.40 inches; Bud Maddux, Home Valley, 11.45 inches; Pete Conrad near Tukes Mountain, 6.88 inches; Nancy Ellifrit, Mt. Vista, 7.75 inches; Tom Dixon, Amboy, 9.82 inches; Larry Lebsack, NE Hazel Dell, 7.33 inches; Merle Moore, two miles west of Yacolt 9.68 inches; Dave Campbell, one mile west of Heisson, 6.83 inches; Tyler Mode from his Minnehaha station, 5.84 inches; Sandy Nesvick, east Vancouver, 5.24 inches; Dan Hein, Camas, 8.88 inches; Barry Fitzthum, Amboy, 8.54 inches; Gary Collins, Brush Prairie, 9.07 inches; Jim Knoll, Five Corners, 7.48 inches; and Ellen Smart, Ridgefield 6.60 inches.
You can see that the above amounts were between two and three times from what was recorded in December. And all of the observers had snowfall, some with impressive amounts. Murphy Dennis had 28.5 inches; Barry Fitzthum measured 25 inches; Phil Delany recorded 26 inches; and Claudia Chiasson had 21.5 inches. Others here in the lowlands had between 3 and five inches for the most part.
Tom Dixon in Amboy had this observation, “On Saturday, January 28, at about 4 in the afternoon my wife and I noticed hundreds of robins in and around our yard and field. They just suddenly showed up. I guess the nice sunny afternoon weather brought them out. It was like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s movie ‘The Birds’. We hadn’t noticed such a thing like that ever before.”
Jim Knoll of Orchards had this comment regarding his years of record keeping, “I’m looking forward to February 29th. Will this be the year that I finally record a freezing temperature on that date? My record low for the 29th is 36. In 2008 I had a record high of 64. This will be my 8th leap year since I started recording home temperatures.” Well, Jim be sure and let me and our readers know if you make this milestone!
