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--> --> The hard rain isn't hard to take this fall It's heartening to see a report from weather experts hinting that drought in Oregon may be a non-issue this coming spring and summer. We're certainly enjoying the rain and snow around our part of the Rogue Valley, and scores of skiers and snowboarders being lifted to the top of the Mt. Ashland Ski Area would agree. For those who may be complaining about the gloomy days of late November and now into December, remember this: · higher rainfall totals in the fall can only benefit spring runoffs into streams and lakes. When the ground becomes saturated early on and then freezes, snow melting in the spring flows into the streams instead of soaking into the ground. · below-average rainfall last year at this time set the state up for a dire drought emergency. When spring arrived reservoirs were down, wildfire danger mounted and farmers and the federal government jousted in the bone-dry Klamath Basin. By the time September rolled around, Gov. John Kitzhaber had issued drought emergency declarations in half of Oregon's 36 counties, including Jackson County. The new report from state climatologists paints a far brighter picture and its facts and figures point to optimism for this water year, which we suspect is what all Oregonians want to hear. It says rainfall statewide is at 110 percent of average. Our local rainfall totals, one official tally recorded at the Medford Airport and the other - the Tidings' unnofficial rainfall total - recorded at roughly 2,100 feet in Ashland, put us at 103 percent and 134 percent, respectively. Regionally, our snowpack is outstanding, with the Rogue and Umpqua river basins at 158 percent of average through Tuesday, according to the report. Climatologists warn that the current deluge - it's rained in Ashland nearly every day for the past two weeks - is "a relatively minor player" in overcoming drought conditions. The key, they say, is rainfall totals from February through March that match monthly averages. With all this in mind, the state's top forecaster said he won't call off the Oregon drought and instead is waiting until mid-winter before making any declarations. We can wait. But after enduring mandatory water curtailment restrictions this summer in Ashland, worrying about our Watershed burning down and generally wondering whether the grip of drought would ever ease, we have only one thing to say in the meantime: let it rain. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Ashland Daily Tidings | Corvallis Gazette-Times | | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | Springfield News | Cottage Grove Sentinel | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 2001 Lee Northwest Publishing