Weather Eye: Pineapple Express brings rain, memories of floods 50 years ago

A rainy Saturday. More than 1 inch of rain fell between midnight and 5 p.m.

My rain total as of 5 p.m. Saturday here in Salmon Creek was 1.15 inches, with over 4 inches for the month.

All this thanks to the atmospheric river called the Pineapple Express.

The rain should let up today, at least in the lower elevations, but more will fall before Christmas, and the snow level will slowly drop to way below the mountain passes by Christmas Eve — factor that in if you’re traveling.

The Christmas forecast? As of Saturday, I would say a high in the low 40s and a low of freezing or below, with probably no rain. The foothills to our east may be dusted white.

The 50-year anniversary of the great Christmas Day flooding is upon us. I was a high school student at Benson High School in Portland and we had bitter cold arctic air over us when I left school at 3 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 18 for the holiday.

I walked to Lloyd Center to catch my bus, with the east wind blowing at least 35 or 40 mph and the snow coming horizontal. I could hardly see. I will always remember the icy sting of that storm. It snowed over a foot at my North Portland home. It looked like a sure bet for a white Christmas.

It wasn’t to be. A warm Pineapple Express arrived and it rained inches — and inches more in the mountains. When I woke up Christmas day there was no trace of snow left. I walked down to the Willamette River and it had flooded everything along its banks in Portland. I never saw snow disappear faster. Even the deep piles in parking lots melted.

Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://patricktimm.com.