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--> --> Rainfall that wouldn't end By Maggie McGehee Ashland Daily Tidings Ground saturation, continual rain and a melting snowpack: Individually, they are nothing more than unfavorable weather phenomenon, but when they combined in December of 1996, they spelled disaster and mayhem for Ashland and the surrounding areas. Nearly 11 inches of rain fell on Ashland during that month, following an unusually wet November, so much so that the soil in Ashland could no longer absorb the rainfall. Even under these conditions, the flood could have been avoided, according to Chuck Glaser of the National Weather Service in Medford. But then the rains came. "The big rains at the end of the year, from Dec. 29 to Jan. 2, caused the snow to melt all at once," Glaser said. "There wasn't a large snowpack, but it was enough to make things that much worse." The National Weather Service has no records for Mount Ashland, but Glaser used the snowpack at Howard Prairie as an example. "Howard Prairie had 16 inches of snow, but when it began to rain, it melted down so that only 2 inches was left," he said. "That's quite a bit of water. We had tremendous amounts of rain. That's really what caused it. The snow made it worse because the water had no place to go." The water found a place, however, overflowing Ashland, Bear and Wagner creeks and flooding downtown and Ashland and destroying some homes along the waterways. Mother Nature has spared the Rogue Valley so far in 2001, according to Glaser. This year's December rainfall is less than half of the totals for December 1996, measuring less than 4 inches. The snowpack is sound this year, spelling good news for farmers in the area who depend on the summer's snowmelts for irrigation water, but weather conditions are not favorable for the snow level rising high enough to cause the snow to melt early, Glaser said. "I don't think we are anywhere near the 1996 conditions at all," he said. "We are above normal, but nowhere near those conditions ... It probably isn't going to happen this year. It probably seems so wet because it's been dry for several months, but I don't see anything like that (the 1996 conditions) in the forecast." 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