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Yes, cool wasn�t your imagination Photo by Joe Mayr A rain squall passes over Table Rocks and heads toward Medford Wednesday afternoon. Forecasters expect the cool, unsettled weather � which produced the coldest July 4 on record � to persist through the weekend and into next week. By Bill Kettler If you thought the Fourth of July was cold, you probably didn�t know just how right you were. Independence Day 2000 set a record for the coldest July 4 in the 85 years that weather data has been collected in Medford. And Wednesday could find a niche in the record books as the wettest July 5 in Medford�s history. The mercury crept no higher than 65 degrees Tuesday at the Medford airport. The chilly weather shattered the former mark, set in 1986, by 5 degrees. By 6 p.m. Wednesday, .13 inches of rain had fallen at the National Weather Service�s Medford office, where the record for July 5 precipitation is .29 inches, set in 1992. Meteorologists blame the craziness on a large trough of cool moist air that rolled in from the Pacific Ocean. "It�s not normal to have this," said Eric Platt, of the National Weather Service. What�s normal is a ridge of warm, dry, high-pressure air that builds east of the Cascades. The high-pressure ridge prevents storms from rolling into Southern Oregon and usually allows temperatures to climb into the 90s. Platt said Wednesday�s storm was a small-scale replica of the weather systems that bring big winter storms. Afternoon thunderstorms dumped heavy rain in some parts of the Rogue Valley. Torrents in Ashland briefly slowed traffic at the intersection of North Main and Maple streets, where such rain often snarls traffic. Small hail also pelted some Ashland neighborhoods. The thunderstorms threatened a drum and bugle corps show scheduled for Spiegelberg Stadium, but program organizers said the show would go on regardless of the weather. "That�s the way it is with drum corps," said Rick Wise, who organized "Drums Along the Rogue" to benefit The Arc of Jackson County. Six drum and bugle corps, including three from California and one from Washington, were scheduled to play and perform precision marching routines. Wise said heavy rains might force the performers "to do a standstill" � play in place rather than play and march. Forecasters expect the unsettled weather to persist through the weekend and into next week. Platt said it could be the middle of next week before temperatures return to the high 80s, which is the normal average high for early July. "It�s just a change in the weather pattern," he said. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA