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Wet week will follow blustery Monday By BILL KETTLER Mail Tribune Monday's wind and rain could set the pattern for a week of wet weather for Thanksgiving. Winds gusted to 40 mph in Medford at the head of a storm that brought blustery rain showers by late afternoon. Forecasters were expecting more rain through the week, but little snow on mountain roads before Thursday afternoon. The wind brought down a few trees around Jackson County, but there were no major power outages. One gust knocked down a reader board outside Lithia Mazda, at 360 E. Jackson St. The sign crashed onto a Lithia shuttle van, crushing the windshield, but no one was injured. "It just scared a lot of people," said Jodie Potteiger, who works at the dealership. The winds were spawned by variations in air pressure at the leading edge of the storm, said Roger Gerig, of the National Weather Service's Medford station. Wind speeds dropped to single digits by late afternoon as the front moved through. The wind probably blew well beyond 40 mph in more exposed areas, Gerig said. "We're the lowest spot in the valley." Gerig said relatively warm temperatures should keep mountain passes snow-free for holiday travelers at least through Wednesday. Colder air will move into Southern Oregon by mid-day Thursday, pushing snow levels down to about 4,000 feet by late in the day. Gerig said warm westerly winds have been keeping Rogue Valley temperatures about 10 to 15 degrees above seasonal norms. Medford's high temperature of 67 degrees Monday tied the record for Nov. 19, set in 1936. The normal high is 50 degrees. Storms that originate in the Gulf of Alaska typically carry the cold air that brings snow to the Southern Oregon Cascades and Siskiyous. Forecasters were expecting temperatures to drop Thursday, but Gerig said there would probably be only an inch or two of snow on mountain passes by late Thursday. Extended forecasts for the balance of the long holiday weekend call for cloudy with a chance of rain on Friday, clouds with chance of rain on Saturday, and mostly cloudy on Sunday. Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.