Baker County Living
Weather
Welcome to the dry side of Oregon By Jayson Jacoby Baker City Herald
You know what a rain Average shadow is. rainfall Well, much of Baker County lies within a double 10.68 inches rain shadow. Puddles, suffice it to say, are an uncommon hazard hereabouts. The first, and by far the larger, of these two shadows is the one cast by the Cascade Mountains. That line of volcanic peaks intercepts most of the moisture from the soggy storms that sweep inland from the Pacific Ocean frequently between Halloween and Memorial Day. And a goodly portion of the water that the Cascades don’t get is wrung out by the Elkhorns, the 9,000-foot range that dominates the western horizon from Baker Valley. Clouds, as a result, tend to contain precious little precipitation by the time they reach Baker City. The average rainfall at the Baker City Municipal Airport is 10.68 inches. Portland, Salem and Monthly averages and Eugene each gets doused extremes, all from Baker with more than three times City Municipal Airport as much. records, 1951 to present. What those cities don’t get much of, though, is snow. Or sub-zero temperatures. Both of which are relatively common in Baker County. The explanation for this involves a couple of factors. See Weather/Page 6
4
l
www.bakercityherald.com
JANUARY Avg. high: 33.9 Avg. low: 16.9 Precipitation: .99 Record High: 59 Record Low: -28
FEBRUARY Avg. high: 41.1 Avg. low: 22.3 Precipitation: .64 Record High: 66 Record Low: -28
MARCH Avg. high: 49.8 Avg. low: 26.6 Precipitation: .82 Record High: 78 Record Low: -5
APRIL Avg. high: 58.7 Avg. low: 31.0 Precipitation: .84 Record High: 89 Record Low: 12
MAY Avg. high: 67.1 Avg. low: 38.1 Precipitation: 1.37 Record High: 94 Record Low: 14
JUNE Avg. high: 75.3 Avg. low: 44.5 Precipitation: 1.33 Record High: 102 Record Low: 26
JULY Avg. high: 84.9 Avg. low: 48.3 Precipitation: .58 Record High: 104 Record Low: 30
AUGUST Avg. high: 84.2 Avg. low: 46.9 Precipitation: .85 Record High: 106 Record Low: 27
SEPTEMBER Avg. high: 75.1 Avg. low: 38.7 Precipitation: .68 Record High: 101 Record Low: 17
OCTOBER Avg. high: 62.4 Avg. low: 30.3 Precipitation: .63 Record High: 90 Record Low: 1
NOVEMBER Avg. high: 45.5 Avg. low: 24.8 Precipitation: .93 Record High: 72 Record Low: -16
DECEMBER Avg. high: 35.6 Avg. low: 18.0 Precipitation: 1.02 Record High: 60 Record Low: -39