Was going to post this yesterday but the board was down.
I am an amateur astronomer and avid stargazer. It’s been cloudy, foggy, and rainy here for about the last 3 months. Boring, dull, depressing weather.
On January 11th it was sunny for maybe the fifth time since October. Looked promising - finally a chance to try out that Barlow lens I just got for xmas! Night came and the view was beautiful, with Orion high up in the sky, and Mars and Saturn clearly visible. I decided to go back out later with the telescope after the Moon came up because its bright cratery surface would be perfect for trying out my new lens.
So an hour or two later… the sky is all full of damn fog and smoke! Overcast. What the hell is this shit!? I wait through 3 goddamn months of rain and fucking snow for nothing? This shit doesn’t fly.
It’s not anything personal about Oregon. Beautiful state, and I spent some of my years growing up here. It’s just lately the weather stinks.
So, I’ve decided to leave here as soon as possible. Permanently. That’s right, I’m staying here over my dead body. You can pry my Barlow from my cold dead hands. And you can drive me back here in a coffin. No, on second thought you can drive me back here in an urn. Try that stunt with a coffin and there’ll be a zombie walking across the state line.
I understand there’s been some even shittier weather in the northern part of the state, so other Dopers from all over the northwest, please consider this an invitation to post your own meteorological horror stories here.
I don’t know where you’re located, but it was a painfully beautiful day over here in the Willamette Valley for a while–clear blue skies, sunshine, and almost hot enough to actually take off my sweatshirt. It’s like the weather gods were giving us a reward for living through those three shitty days of being trapped inside. It’s nasty and grey again now, but days like this one make me remember how beautiful the spring can be…
cityboy, you’re in the wrong end of the Rogue Valley. I live in Williams, which is just above the California border; and we’ve only had two foggy days this winter. If you live in Grants Pass (may God have mercy on your soul), you will be in the ‘fog belt’. Location, location, location my boy.
You’re always welcome to set up your 'scope on my south deck if you like. Hell, you can sit in the hot tub whilst viewing the stars. Give me a jingle, I’d like to meet you.
Oh, Rogue valley. Okay. Before you said that, I assumed you were in the Portland area (as I am), and I was going to make fun of you for expecting clear skies in the winter. Hereabouts, it’s pretty much solid clouds from October to April. When the sun comes out, we go “Hey, what’s that big bright thing in the sky?”
Sometimes I forget there’s a great deal of Oregon outside the metro area.
Ferrous, I hear you about the cloudy weather. I used to live in Grants Pass before I moved to Williams, and the winters there sucked. Grey, foggy skies for at least six months of the year. Many times I contemplated sticking my head in the oven to end the grey agony; only to realize I had an electric oven. Damn! Foiled again!
Even now when the sun peeks out during these winter months, we tease ourselves. “Aarghh, it burns!” “My freaking retinas!! They’re on FIRE!” Or, there’s the Wicked Witch of the West version: “I’m melting! melting! melt…” Or we just up and rust.
It’s now January 20, and I keep pinching myself and saying “Spring is just around the corner.”
The other old adage of Oregon weather is: if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. It’ll change.
Yeah, but at least it never gets very cold. It hardly ever gets below freezing in the valley, the recent freezing rain incident notwithstanding. (Nothing like an ice storm to really make you appreciate 45 degrees and rain.)
And the summers rock. Sixteen hours of sunshine, pleasant breezes, and it rarely gets hotter than mid-80’s. So it more or less evens out, I reckon.
Gosh I wish they’d bring back the location fields. Hey I used to live in Portland - it’s actually a nice place if ya don’t mind the clouds and rain. :begins reminiscing:
Eh, there doesn’t seem to be a heck of a lot besides Eugene and Salem, and… umm… ahh…
Here in North Dakota it is currently -10 degrees Farenheght with a wind-chill of -30. If you take a cup of boiling water and fling the contents into the air, the water freezes before it hits the ground. I am not kidding.
C’mon, Cityboy and all you other Oregonians. You know very well it’s California that has weather. Oregon has climate. If you want clear skys most of the time, move down here to the California high desert. I’ll be glad to trade places with ya. I was born in Eugene and dragged to California against my will. (I was only five at the time.) Of course, my desire to go back “home” to Oregon may have more to do with ending where I began than it does with either weather or climate.
. Maybe all I need is to move to another part of the state.
