Marni Greer moved to Clark County on Dec. 4. After more than three weeks of drizzle, drips and downpours, she finally got a chance to enjoy a day without rain.
Greer and Luna, her border collie-Australian shepherd mix, were out with other walkers and joggers on the Salmon Creek Greenway Trail on Saturday, taking advantage of what was shaping up to be the first dry day of December — as of early evening, anyway — breaking a streak of 26 soggy days.
Greer said she has been getting outside for walks despite the rain: Luna sees to that.
However, “She has a built-in fur coat,” said Greer, who came here from Santa Monica, Calif., to be with family. “Me, I need to gear up.”
David Hoggatt and Laura Hilty also had some trail company, managing three leashes between them. Along for the stroll were Samone, a Labrador retriever; Cruiser, a Boston terrier; and Charlie, a golden retriever.
“After the holidays — and getting ready for the holidays — this definitely is refreshing,” Hoggatt said.
Their timing was good, because rain was back in today’s forecast.
There has been another element to our soggy December. For some trail walkers, raindrops meant roadblocks.
Jeannette Chavez said that she and walking partner Rod Frew set out a couple of times during the week to walk the whole 6-mile, out-and-back loop. But high water flooded part of the trail.
“We had to turn back,” Chavez said.
A couple of men found the silver lining in all those December rain clouds. Dennis Pritchard and his son Sam Pritchard weren’t on the Salmon Creek trail: They were on Salmon Creek, rowing small inflatable watercraft they often use for fishing.
“With the water up, we thought we’d give it a try,” Dennis Pritchard said as he paused over his oars.
Friday saw just enough moisture to extend the streak. The Christmas Day rainfall was one-hundredth (0.01) of an inch, said Liana Brackett, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Portland.
Even if late rainfall Saturday night were to extend the string of rainy days, we still wouldn’t quite be into record-setting territory in the Portland-metro area.
“The record for days with one-hundredth of an inch or more of rain is 29 days, in January 1950,” Brackett said.
There is another streak to keep an eye on, counting days with a trace of rain. That’s enough to moisten the ground, but less than one-hundredth of an inch.
“The record for a trace or more of rain is 34 days, in 2001,” Brackett said.
