Letters to the Editor: Dec. 10, 2023

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I love Western Oregon’s weather. There’s nothing better than sitting outside with a cup of coffee on a rainy, 50-degree morning like the ones we’ve been having.

I’m a Rain Dog, having spent my entire long life here. The breathable air is magnificent.

Some things stay the same, as Western Oregon weather makes its seasonal rounds from one extreme to the other — from wet and mild to dry and hot. Rain can be expected from mid-October or early November until the transition to dry starts, albeit slowly, in early- to mid-April.

I’ve seen extreme weather occur, with some of our worst flooding, in April. Some events, like the Oct. 12, 1962, Columbus Day Storm, have etched themselves into our memories, along with the snowy winter of 1968, the extreme cold and dry winters of the mid-1970s and the landslide year of 1996 with its extreme amount of rain.

Think our summers are getting hotter? I remember hot dry summers in the 1950s, when popping tar bubbles on the street pavement seemed great sport for us kids.

A lot can be learned by looking back at Western Oregon’s recorded wildfires.

In the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of acres of old growth timber burned in a series of fires collectively known as the Tillamook Burn. And much of western Yamhill County burned in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

So I have a suggestion for those who complain about our wet but temperate climate — find somewhere else you like better and move. That would have made ex-Gov. Tom McCall happy!

Jim LeTourneux

Sheridan