We managed to squeeze out a few more hours without rain falling Wednesday before the cold front pushed into Clark County around 4 p.m. It was stormy along the coast with heavy rains, winds up to 50 mph and extremely high tides with large ocean swells.
The combination of high tides near 9 feet and waves at 20 feet caused water to back up into rivers and bays. Today waves will be even higher, near 30 feet. High tides close to 10 feet will cause beach erosion and could damage property in tidal regions.
It should be a great day for storm watching at the coast but also dangerous. It’s probably best to remain off the beach and observe from a safe distance. Stormy weather could make for some great photographs. Meanwhile, snow is falling in the mountains, finally, but the best snow is yet to come on Sunday.
Let’s hope forecast models are on track predicting several feet of snow from now through the end of next week. Snow measurements taken on Mount Hood Tuesday show that this is the lowest snow depth in the past 35 years during a La Nina winter. Snowpacks in Oregon mountains range from 25 to 50 percent of normal. Time for a reload!
