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53 °F Forecast | Road Cams Friday, May 6, 2005 Today's News | Shop Our Valley | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery | Contact Us SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend February 2, 2005 With the sun on his back, Larry Martin of Central Point installs weatherstripping on windows for the new Planned Parenthood offices on Central Avenue in downtown Medford. This winter�s weather has been a mixed bag. Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Weather all over the map January provided a little bit of everything as winter storms gave way to rising temps By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Winter dropped in to visit Southern Oregon several times during January, but never stayed for long. The big storm of Jan. 8-9 left more than a foot of snow in many areas above 1,500 feet and dropped half the month’s total precipitation. But January ended with less than normal rainfall and below-average snowpack in the mountains. The rainy season of 2004-2005 has been on-again-off-again since it started. After the wettest October in 25 years, precipitation for November was below average. December’s rainfall beat the monthly average by just enough to offset January’s below-average total, so that by the end of January precipitation at the Medford airport stood at 10.37 inches, just barely above the average (10.31 inches) for the season to date. Cold temperatures dominated the first half of the month, but warmer weather offered a tantalizing taste of spring about two months early. On Jan. 25, the mercury climbed to 62 degrees at the Medford airport, setting a new record high for the day. A persistent pool of high-pressure air over the Pacific Ocean just off the coast has blocked many storms from reaching Oregon, says Roger Gerig, of the National Weather Service’s Medford station. Winter storms generally have been moving south into California or north to British Columbia, leaving most of Oregon and Washington relatively dry. Advertisement "If a strong-enough system comes along it moves out of the way and a couple of storms get in. Then it comes back," he says. Southern Oregon’s Siskiyou Mountains have some of the deepest snowpack in Oregon and Washington because California-bound storms brushed the Siskiyous on their way to the Sierras. Water content of the snow at four sites around Mount Ashland averaged 90 percent of the 20-year average from 1980 to 1999 when Steve Johnson of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest measured the snow depth on Jan. 27. The snowpack diminishes rapidly north of the Siskiyous. Crater Lake National Park had just 51 inches of snow on the ground Tuesday at park headquarters, about 1,000 feet below the rim, compared to the normal average depth of 93 inches on Feb. 1. For the Rogue and Umpqua basins as a whole, the water content of the snow on Feb. 1 was just 52 percent of average, but that compared favorably to other watersheds farther north. The Willamette basin’s snow water content, for example, was just 30 percent of average on Feb. 1, and total precipitation was 56 percent of average. February and March could still make or break the winter snowpack across the Northwest and in Southern Oregon, but it’s harder to accumulate snow as the days get longer and warmer. By the end of January, Medford’s average daily high temperature, 49 degrees, is already 6 degrees higher than it was on Jan. 1. Mount McLoughlin has plenty of exposed rocks that would be covered with snow by now during most winters. Gerig says if the dry weather continues, "it doesn’t bode well" for the region’s water supply this summer. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Auto Insurance Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation teleconferencing Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Advertisement s