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Spring's soggy story Photo by Bob Pennell Julie Lee found herself doing flood-cleanup duty Tuesday, after Little Butte Creek flooded the yard of Lee's South Shasta Avenue home in Eagle Point. Water covered her picket fence and left debris, which she removed to protect her lawn. Storm breaks cold records, leaves lots of rain By BILL VARBLE It was raining when Dean and Mary Pasche went to bed Monday night. But the white stuff on the deck of their home up Dead Indian Memorial Road near Ashland Tuesday morning wasn't rain. "It was a total shock," Mary Pasche said Tuesday afternoon. "I put a ruler in, and the snow was almost 12 inches deep." Late Tuesday afternoon half that remained. Welcome to April in Southern Oregon. A cold front that lingered longer than it was supposed to dumped snow in the hills around the Rogue Valley, raised some streams above their banks and generally soaked things. Today is expected to be drier. Doug Mason found his back yard on Archer Drive near Orchard Home Drive in Medford under three inches of water after an irrigation ditch overflowed. Wide weather range is average for April If Tuesday's blast of cold and wet surprised you, you've forgotten how wild spring weather can be in the Rogue Valley. Or maybe that spell of warm, dry days in late March and early April fooled you into thinking summer had come to stay. Last spring there were far more gray days, but relatively little rain. For March and April 1999, there were 32 days with at least a trace of rain, but total precipitation amounted to just 1.25 inches. This year, March had 16 days with a trace or more of rain. April to date has had just six rainy days, but the total precipitation for the two months stood at 4.07 inches as of Tuesday, with a third of April still to come. April is notorious for a wide range of temperatures. The record high for today, for example, is 90, set in 1939, and the record low is 26, set in 1927. Medford's average day for the final killing frost is April 29. Gardeners who pay attention to the weather know that the last frost may come as early as mid-April or as late as mid-May. "The last time that happened was the New Year's Flood," he says. That storm hit Dec. 31, 1996. The culprit in this week's storm was an upper-level low-pressure system that moved through Southern Oregon slower than expected Monday night and early Tuesday, giving upwards of 1 inches of precipitation in the valley, some of which was snow in higher elevations. Dan Weygand, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Tuesday afternoon the front had finally moved enough to the east that it was starting to break up. All this on the heels of a string of warm, sunny days earlier in the month. "We've swung from one direction to the other," Weygand said. The fallout includes: A record set Tuesday for the lowest official high temperature for the date at the Medford airport: 45 degrees, which was reached just after midnight (the previous record low high was 48). In Ashland, weather-watchers reported highs as low as 39 on Tuesday. The second wettest April ever in Medford, with 1.19 inches at the airport in the 24 hours ending Tuesday at 5 a.m., and another .35 inches as of 5 p.m. That's more than 1.54 inches in two days and brings the total to 3.41 for the month. The wettest April ever was 1912, when 4.40 inches fell. Wednesday's forecast calls for areas of fog and low clouds in the morning and a high temperature of 55 to 60. "That all depends on how quick the lower clouds are to burn off," Weygand said. A weak cold front now off the coast is expected to weaken Thursday as it passes, bringing a 20 to 40 percent chance of rain through Friday. The outlook is for more rain Saturday with showers into Sunday. Little Butte Creek and the Rogue River below Gold Rey Dam crested their banks at least briefly Tuesday, Weygand said. According to Josephine County Watermaster Bruce Sund, the flow of the Rogue River at Grants Pass at midnight Monday was 6,500 cubic feet per second. Early Tuesday afternoon it was 25,000. Normal is around 4,000. "The rest of the week looks closer to normal," Weygand said. "I'm just hoping my husband can get out the snowblower," Pasche said. Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA