The Pacific Northwest received some much needed rain over the weekend. And while areas west of the Cascades suffered from mudslides, down trees and localized flooding, many in the farming community were happy to see the rain. Marilyn Lohmann meteorologist with the National Weather Service said the weekend of rain means the new Water Year is off to a great start; but that only started October 1st.

“But if we look at the calendar year there still is a lot of Eastern Washington and Oregon only 50%-70% of normal [precipitation for the year].  I think if we stay in an active pattern and continue to get showers like this, then we’ll finally start to see some of those numbers on that drought monitor really start to change.  They’re starting to change in SW Oregon and northern Washington.”

As we transition into November, Lohmann says the expectation is for above average precipitation with storms moving in from the Pacific every 24-48 hours or so. Speaking of November, Lohmann said the new month will start with warm temperatures, but soon settle in to average for this time of year.

“But those seasonal temperatures are going to feel cooler as we shift into November, with the average high cooling to around 40 degrees and lows between 30-32.  Just that kind of shift from that really mild October weather we had to our seasonal temperatures for November.”

Could we see some snow as we start the month of November? Lohmann has the answers in our Ag Weather In Depth podcast.




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