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Subject: Postcard from Portland
Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings and greenings from what is once again the Pacific Northwet. I
should have known better than to mention in last month's PfP what a dry
month April had been. I guess I'm to blame for the second wettest May on
record, the previous record being in 1879! See the box scores at the end
of this PfP. We fear the rains were responsible for the early demise of
our irises :-( So much for May's flowers *sigh*. Hopefully next year the
deluge dybbuks[0] will spare us the downpours.
But our own little flower child continues to blossom. Elisha celebrated
her six month birthday last month! Her six month checkup with Dr.
Schwenninger showed her to be progressing nicely. Her weight gain has
slowed a little (she tipped the scales at 14lbs. 8 oz.), but that is
likely due to the extra calories she's been burning off now that she's
more active. She has truly mastered the art of rolling. Elisha quickly
tires of her bouncy seat now (its days are numbered), preferring to be
on the carpet where she maneuvers across the room in no time flat. We'll
be baby proofing the place pronto - before she figures out how to crawl!
She's also been enjoying time in her exersaucer. We'll be getting her a
Johnny Jumpup soon.
The gazintas[1] and gazoutas[2] have changed markedly... she's now
eating (and wearing :-) sweet potatoes, carrots and squash along with
rice cereal and oatmeal. We know... just wait for GREEN veggies ;-)
She hasn't yet figured out how to sit unattended, but she does "tripod"
for short periods of time. We're working on it.
Elisha is just getting over her first ear infection and cold.
Unfortunately, both of her parents were similarly afflicted as infants.
Fortunately, Elisha had a mild bout and didn't have too much discomfort.
Her latest physical conquests are clapping her hands and grabbing her
feet (a recent discovery). Every day brings a different wrinkle to her
life[3] - and ours. It's wonderfully exciting to experience through our
daughter the discovery process.
Elisha's home page has been totally reformatted into a real diary. You
can keep up on her latest exploits by browsing over to...
http://www.herring.org/elisha.html
We try to update it whenever there's something of interest. We've also
added 17 more photos to her gallery - which is linked to from her home
page.
Last month Liz's mom joined us for a Mother's Day celebration - Liz's
first! I treated the moms to a tasty fish dinner downtown at the
Harborside on the day before M-day. The following morning I prepared my
special mushroom and basil chicken sausage omelet for Mother's Day
brunch.
Elisha softly said "ma" last month - but just once, and only Liz heard
it. We anticipate she'll include more consonants in her "conversations"
before long. And with that, we'll close this little confab.
May your June be jubilant. Until next month...
we love and miss you all,
Sandy, Liz and Elisha
[0] In Jewish folklore, the wandering soul of a dead person that enters
the body of a living person and controls his or her behavior.
[1] What goes in...
[2] ...must come out!
[3] and to her pulkas :-)
_________________________________________________________________
Data harvested from http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/climate/index.php?wfo=pqr
CLIMATIC SUMMARY FOR PORTLAND OREGON
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON
215 AM PDT MON JUN 01 1998
...TEMPERATURE...
HIGH YESTERDAY... 80
LOW YESTERDAY... 49
MEAN TEMP........ 65 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... 5
NORMAL HIGH FOR TODAY... 71
NORMAL LOW FOR TODAY... 50
RECORD HIGH FOR TODAY... 94 SET IN 1970
RECORD LOW FOR TODAY... 39 SET IN 1966
...DEGREE DAY DATA...
HEATING
YESTERDAY... 0 DEPARTURE... -5
MONTH....... 267 DEPARTURE... 18
SEASON...... 3916 DEPARTURE... -515
COOLING
YESTERDAY... 0 DEPARTURE... 0
MONTH....... 4 DEPARTURE... 4
SEASON...... 18 DEPARTURE... 18
...PRECIPITATION...
YESTERDAY............. 0.00
TOTAL FOR THE MONTH... 5.55
NORMAL MONTH TO DATE.. 2.06
TOTAL FOR THE YEAR.... 22.69 TOTAL SINCE OCT 1... 36.15
NORMAL YEAR TO DATE... 17.21 NORMAL FROM OCT 1... 31.35
...WIND DATA IN MPH...
AVERAGE WIND SPEED YESTERDAY... 6.3
FASTEST 2-MIN WIND YESTERDAY... 13 FROM 310 DEGREES
PEAK WIND GUST YESTERDAY....... 17 FROM 330 DEGREES
...ASTRONOMICAL DATA...
SUNRISE TODAY...525 AM PDT
SUNSET TODAY...851 PM PDT
SUNRISE TOMORROW...524 AM PDT
SUNSET TOMORROW...852 PM PDT
MAY CLIMATOLOGICAL REPORT FOR PORTLAND OREGON...RETRANSMITTED
[NOTE: I had to email NOAA to get the data for May. Last month I failed
to notice that the report hadn't been updated for April and ended
up repeating the data for the previous month (March). *sigh*]
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OREGON
1000 AM PDT MON JUN 01 1998
TEMPERATURE DATA......
(DEGREES F)
AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE.... 56.2 OR 0.9 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL
AVERAGE MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE.... 62.7
AVERAGE MINIMUM TEMPERATURE.... 49.8
HIGHEST TEMPERATURE WAS 85 ON DAY 1
LOWEST TEMPERATURE WAS 45 ON DAY 28
HEATING DEGREE DAYS (BASE 65) COOLING DEGREE DAYS
MONTHLY TOTAL ........... 267 MONTHLY TOTAL .......... 4
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.... 18 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... 4
SEASONAL TOTAL (JUL-JUN). 3916 SEASONAL TOTAL (JAN-DEC) 18
DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL.... -515 DEPARTURE FROM NORMAL... 18
PRECIPITATION DATA....
..RAIN..
TOTAL FOR THE MONTH......... 5.55 OR 3.49 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL
TOTAL SINCE JANUARY 1ST..... 22.69 OR 5.48 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL
GREATEST 24 HOUR RAINFALL WAS 1.45 INCHES ON DAY(S) 16-17
..SNOW..
TOTAL FOR THE MONTH......... 0.0
TOTAL FOR THE SEASON........ 0
GREATEST 24 HOUR SNOWFALL WAS 0 INCHES ON DAY(S) __ __
..NUMBER OF DAYS..
WITH .01 INCHES OR MORE 18 HIGHS 32 DEGREES OR COLDER 0
WITH .10 INCHES OR MORE 14 HIGHS 90 DEGREES OR WARMER 0
WITH .50 INCHES OR MORE 5 LOWS 32 DEGREES OR COLDER 0
WITH 1.00 INCHES OR MORE 0 LOWS 0 DEGREES OR COLDER 0
SEA LEVEL PRESSURE............
HIGHEST 30.28 INCHES ON DAY 18
LOWEST 29.55 INCHES ON DAY 01
WIND DATA.............
THE AVERAGE MONTHLY WIND SPEED WAS 6.1 MPH
THE FASTEST TWO-MINUTE WIND WAS... 30 MPH FROM 190 DEGREES
THE HIGHEST PEAK WIND GUST WAS.... 38 FROM 190 DEGREES
REMARKS...CORRECTED
NEW RECORD PRECIPITATION AT AIRPORT FOR MAY OF 5.55 INCHES...PREVIOUS
RECORD WAS 4.88 INCHES IN 1996. FOR YOUR INFORMATION THE RECORD FOR
DOWNTOWN PORTLAND WAS 6.60 INCHES SET IN 1879.
NEW RECORD DAILY HIGH OF 85 ON THE 1ST...PREVIOUS 83 SET IN 1947.
NEW DAILY RAINFALL RECORD .68 INCHES ON 20TH...PREVIOUS .55 INCHES 1961.
NEW DAILY RAINFALL RECORD .87 INCHES ON 24TH...PREVIOUS .64 INCHES 1973.
THE 4TH COOLEST AVERAGE MONTHLY MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE OF 62.7 DEG ON RECORD.
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
500 PM PST FRI MAY 1 1998
...NEW RECORD MAXIMUM FOR THE DAY...
PORTLAND AIRPORT RECORDED A NEW RECORD MAXIMUM TEMPERATURE FOR MAY 1
WHEN THE THERMOMETER REACHED 86 DEGREES TODAY. THE OLD DAILY RECORD
WAS 83 DEGREES IN 1947. OFFICIAL RECORDS FOR THE AIRPORT DATE BACK
TO 1941.
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
1120 PM PDT WED MAY 13 1998
...IS IT MAY...OR MARCH?...
CLOUDS AND DAMP WEATHER HAVE RETURNED TO OREGON. MOST OF THE PAST
SEVERAL DAYS HAVE BEEN QUITE COOL...BUT HOW COOL? MANY LOCATIONS IN
THE WESTERN INTERIOR VALLEYS HAVE SEEN TEMPERATURES ABOUT 10 DEGREES
BELOW NORMAL. IN FACT...THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS HAVE SET NEW RECORD
LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES TODAY...
LOCATION TYPE MAY 13TH OLD RECORD
PORTLAND (AIRPORT) RCD LO MAX 55 DEG 56 SET IN 1966
PORTLAND (DOWNTOWN) RCD LO MAX 53 DEG 54 SET IN 1955
MCMINNVILLE RCD LO MAX 54 DEG 55 SET IN 1955
SALEM RCD LO MAX 53 DEG 56 SET IN 1974
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND OR
935 PM PDT SUN MAY 24 1998...CORRECTED HEADER DATE
...RECORD RAINFALL ACROSS NORTHWEST OREGON...
IN ADDITION TO THE UNSEASONABLY COOL MAY TEMPERATURES...RAINFALL
ACROSS NORTHWEST OREGON CONTINUES TO INCREASE. IN FACT...RAIN FROM A
WET PACIFIC COLD FRONT TODAY ADDED SIGNIFICANTLY TO THE MONTHLY
TOTALS...SHATTERING RECORDS.
THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS HAVE SET NEW RECORDS...
NORMAL MAY RECORD MAY MAY 1998 (SO FAR)
RAINFALL RAINFALL RAINFALL
SALEM 1.88 4.58 IN 1942 4.72 (NEW RECORD)
PORTLAND (AIRPORT) 2.06 4.88 IN 1996 5.02 (NEW RECORD)
...SPECIAL NOTE ON PORTLAND RAINFALL...
SO, HERE ARE THE TOP 5 WETTEST MAYS ALL-TIME...
1879 6.60 INCHES (DOWNTOWN SITE)
1871 5.18 INCHES (DOWNTOWN SITE)
1998 5.02 INCHES SO FAR (AIRPORT)
1941 4.97 INCHES (DOWNTOWN SITE)
1996 4.88 INCHES (AIRPORT)
OTHER NEW RECORDS...
PORTLAND 0.82 INCH OF RAIN (AS OF 9 PM) BREAKS OLD CALENDAR
DAY RECORD OF 0.64 INCH SET ON MAY 24TH 1973.
(CALENDAR DAY IS MIDNIGHT TO MIDNIGHT)
--
Sandy, Liz & Elisha Tigard, Oregon School of Herring
webfeet@herring.org bigfish@sns-access.com http://www.herring.org/
And that's the news from Portland
where everything is green, rolling stones gather moss,
and the rainfall is always above average.
Most Recent Update: Thursday, 14-Oct-2004 17:16:34 PDT
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