Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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FROM SNOWSCAPE TO SOGFEST. Well, we had a nasty bit of snow last week and it sure did disrupt a whole lot of events and our daily routines. Slipping and sliding seemed to be all too common and it was advised for those who didn’t have to be out and about to stay home; it was treacherous out there. Snow was falling rapidly out here in West Valley for a while, and I was afraid we would repeat the 1990 snowstorm when we went from six inches of the white stuff to about two feet overnight. Thankfully, we didn’t have a repeat of that, and people got...
COLD AND COLDER? Last week was plenty cold, with temperatures down to 23 degrees here in the west valley, which allowed the fallen snow from earlier in the week to linger. Thankfully, as I begin this column at the start of a new week, it’s about gone. This week is looking to be just as frigid, and I hope you all survive with no frozen pipes. My weather app is showing temperatures down in the teens... burr! We’ll be warming up for the weekend and getting some rain, which isn’t great, but it beats many other options. I wonder if the rain might...
WHITE WORLD! As I begin this column on the first Sunday in February, it is a white world in West Valley in good old Skamokawa! It was like a blizzard for a time, with huge white flakes. The biggest I’d ever seen, and then they changed into a bunch of tiny flakes; blowing all around our house like a whirlwind, wild! I must say that I did enjoy the sunshine break that came shortly after, as I was afraid we would wind up with feet of snow if the snowy sessions continued much longer. At any rate, for those of you who are snow lovers, I hope you’re...
COLD ENOUGH? Well, as I begin this column, it is dropping in the lower twenties, and I must tell you, I’m not a fan of that kind of cold... brr! As a matter of fact, it dropped 20 degrees in only 90 minutes here in West Valley earlier. The decent temperatures we saw earlier in the day were gone in a flash as the temperatures plummeted. From the sound of it, many folks were having plumbing problems, which I’m guessing were related to the extreme cold and resulted in frozen and broken pipes. I do hope you’re all doing better in that regard by no...
FRIGID TEMPS. I cannot tell you how much I detest the bitter cold and with temperatures down in the low twenties this past week, I am definitely not a happy camper! While other areas were bright and sunny, those here in the West Valley also had some very thick fog, which did not leave for most of the day, and the dampness made for an extra layer of frost as well. Leaving from sunny Cathlamet last Friday, I drove into the “wall of fog” that sits right outside of Skamokawa and along the rock wall/rock pit area. My temperature gauge was dro...
LOOKING COLD. I’m writing this at the beginning of the week as it’s clearing up after some rain. The forecast for this week looks quite nippy, so by the time you read this, you’ll have felt the freezing temperatures for yourself if the forecast is accurate. Of course, I live in one of our county’s cold zones, so you might luck out and be chilly but not frozen. At any rate, this is the time of year to have those outside pipes, plants, etc., all taken care of so they don’t freeze. Then you can relax a bit knowing that you’ve done all you can to p...
WET AND NASTY. You know it will be a pretty soggy week when you look at your weather app and it shows nothing but raindrops. At the beginning of this week, we were supposed to have a couple of dry days and maybe even a dry Thursday, with more rain on Friday. However, as of right now, the weekend is looking dry, albeit colder, but we all know this could change on a dime. I’m hoping for some dryness for sure minus any freezing temperatures... picky me. I do hope you’ll remember that no matter the weather, it’s best to be prepared for anyth...
HAPPY NEW YEAR! By the time you read this, it will be several days into 2025, and I have to say, it’s been a wet and blustery ending to 2024. We have had a lot of power outages due to falling trees and blown transformers. Some folks have had their roofs peeled off or greenhouses destroyed, creating an exciting Christmas around here. I do hope those who sustained a lot of damage have been able to make repairs by now. A big thank you to the PUD workers, road crew workers, and all the other folks who had to go out and make repairs in that m...
WET FORECAST. I am writing this very early, but from what I can see on the extended forecast for our area, we are in for a soggy week of Christmas. I hope we catch some dry spells and not three and a half inches of rain like last week, which was horrendous. We had flooding, road closures, and some outages combined with the King tides. It was a time to stay home when most of us wanted to get out and about and into the holiday shopping mode! Hopefully, we were able to make that happen anyway, as, by the time you read this, Christmas will be over....
WET AND WETTER. We had a fairly damp and nasty Saturday but nothing like what hit up north; the Sound area people were rescuing decorations, flags, and anything else that wasn’t nailed down so at least we didn’t lose power or have any more than short bursts of wind and rain out here in West Valley. With the entire week looking wet, we may need waders or a boat to get around with the King Tides and added rain. Folks in low-lying areas, like Swedetown and over in the Grays River, Rosburg area were experiencing road closures due to water over the...
NOT SO GREAT. Last week we had temperatures down in the twenties for several nights but thankfully it warmed up only for it to rain. We also had a long power outage, so while it may not officially be winter, it’s sure acting like it! At the start of this week, it shows that we will catch a break and get a couple of dry days, but the next six days look very wet. With all that extra rainfall, I hope everyone will slow down and take it easy as there may be more fallen trees and rocks on the roadways. We’ve got less than two weeks until Chr...
CHILLY START I don’t know what it was like at your house this past Sunday morning, which was the first day of this last month of the year, but it was twenty-six degrees at my house and it’s not even winter yet! While some folks find the clear, crisp, chilly air wonderful, I’m not a fan. The bitter cold brings various worries to those of us living out in the country, like our water systems freezing for example. SPECIAL DAYS. Those celebrating their birthdays this week from Dec. 5 through 11 are Hank Bassi, Dennis Reid, Carol McClain, Jai Snow,...
NASTY WEATHER. Well, last week we certainly had some stormy conditions, rocks on the roadways, tree branches coming down, and some power outages. It was not a good time to be out and about. While we mumbled about our stormy conditions here, north of us was way worse, so I'm thankful we didn't have the problems they did, as of this writing, thousands of people near Issaquah, WA (on I-90 east of Seattle) are still without power and the roadways look like forests with downed trees everywhere! Sadly, some folks perished in this "Bomb Cyclone"...
NOT NICE. Welcome to Fall, as in the “falling of lots of rain.” We currently have “lakes” around the area and standing water in the roadways, so please slow down and allow get where you are going safely. This is the time of year when rain can cause trees to uproot and rocks to fall, so drive cautiously. At any rate, this week looks wet with no breaks until Sunday, let’s hope things get better earlier as my “web feet” need drying out! GET PREPARED. This is also the time of year to get your cars ready for winter and stock them with all the thing...
LOOKING SOGGY. If the upcoming forecast comes true it’s going to be a wet week, except for maybe Friday and Monday. I’m hoping for “dry times” during those other days, so we don’t have to buy a boat just yet. In the meantime, it would be advisable to slow down on these wet roads, as it’s better to get there in one piece than not at all. Back in 1994, this wasn’t a great week, with lots of wind and heavy hail there were frozen roads and a lot of wrecks by the end of it. On Nov. 18, the temperature dropped down to 23 degrees and I’d rather we...
OFF AND ON. As this week begins, we had some showers and some sunshine after some foggy conditions this Sunday morning. While it’s not perfect, it’s better than the constant pounding rain that we have experienced recently. There is some dryness in the forecast for this week before the rain comes back on Sunday and I hope that holds true as I’m certain the ground around us is soaked already! Of course, with hurricanes and tornadoes blasting away in some of the other states, I suppose I should not complain at all. Our hearts go out to all of th...
SOGGY START. As I begin this column, it is definitely a gloomy, wet, and windy Sunday out here in West Valley. It was so bad for a while that our satellite reception was totally blocked out. At any rate, those who wanted the rain definitely got some but supposedly by Friday we may have a dry streak of three days so that would make it nice for the beginning of November. I still can’t believe October is over...yikes! Where is the time going? At any rate, it’s definitely time to winterize and get ready for the fun that usually accompanies the wet...
DREARY BEGINNING. As this week begins, it's a dreary looking day here in Skamokawa, which began with heavy, damp fog, and after that lifted and went away, it just stayed gloomy and quite wet. It’s a good day to be inside watching racing or football. It looks like we will get a break for a few days, but by Friday, it will be "keep the boots handy" type of weather for multiple days. It looks like fall is here and lots of falling rain. Please keep those headlights on during these gloomy rainy days and remember to slow down a bit. Getting there i...
GORGEOUS SUNDAY. As I begin this column, it's a really nice sunny Sunday afternoon and it's just the perfect fall day after a very, very foggy beginning. However, it appears from the upcoming forecast that it's going to be extremely wet for most of the week, so if they happen to be wrong and we catch a break, I hope you'll be able to take advantage of it. The rain is great for fire danger and for keeping our water systems flowing nicely, but it can be fairly miserable if you're trying to have some sort of gathering in which the rain truly puts...
FOGGY BEGINNING. As I begin this column, it is super foggy outside once again and so the ol’ ship horns are making a whole lot of noise out there on the river this morning. However, foggy mornings usually mean a nice day so I’m hoping that’s the case once again. That would be nice as there are so many chores to do before the rain returns and we’ll be stuck inside. I see the forecast has changed since yesterday so “supposedly” it’s not going to be wet and stormy until Friday, rather than Wednesday, so that delay would be nice. I hope you’re able...
COOL START. Well, as I begin this column we are sitting in a thick layer of fog with some nippy, lower forties temperatures and so it certainly feels like fall. The sunshine that came along with this cool start was nice and the once damp forecast is now showing a whole lot of days in the upper 60s and 70s, so that’s going to be great, if that holds true. I know we all have a lot of things that need to be done prior to the onset of winter, so here’s to getting that all accomplished. DEVASTATING. While we are enjoying milder weather here, we cann...
NICE START. Well, this week is starting off with some nice weather, although it was pretty chilly and very foggy out here in West Valley this Sunday morning but once the sun came out, it was super nice. By the time you read this however, we will most likely see some rainy weather as the forecast is showing rain on both Wednesday and Thursday, so we’ll see if that shows up or not. As long as it’s not a monsoon, it will be fine as my yard is still looking more on the dry side and having a little extra wetness will hopefully bring back that nic...
CLOUDY. Well, we've had some cooler weather this past weekend as it was dry in some places and misty in some places. We had some light rain fall in some places and really dumped a few times too so it really depended on where you were and the time you were there as to what it was doing. We were pretty thankful for the rain though as it helps with fire danger and keeps those with springs flowing better. It makes one less chore to complete as we don't have to water our lawns. It appears that we have a mixed bag of weather coming to us this week,...
COOLED OFF. As this week begins, we got a nice cool down from those brutally hot days last week and that was fine by me! These cloudier days made for easier yard work weather and kept the AC from having to run non-stop! Plus, the biggest thing is that with the Huckleberry Ridge fire raging just outside of our county's north border, these cooler temperatures are sure to help those fighting fires a lot and I'm hoping the rain scheduled for Wednesday will make things even better. Kudos to all those fighting this fire and to our own local group...
GLOOMY START. As this week begins, we are actually seeing some cloudy and cooler conditions and I am enjoying the relief from the heat. All those who headed to the beaches for this past Labor Day weekend are probably wishing it was a tad bit nicer as the fog can be a bit damp and cool. It can be a little wetter on the coast, and not nearly as enjoyable when there is no sun and you are camping outside. At any rate, I was happy to leave those triple digits behind. Forecasters are saying the heat will return towards the end of the week, so you hea...
