By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews
A very wet early December pushed rainfall totals for 2023 to near average in the Yachats area, according to YachatsNews’ weather watchers, after much of a year that was drier and warmer than usual.
And, as always, the amount of rainfall depended on whether it was measured near the ocean or in the foothills of the Coast Range. The differences can be staggering.
YachatsNews weather watcher Bob Williams lives eight miles up the Yachats River valley. In 2023 he measured 114.63 inches of rain. Jim Adler lives three miles up the valley – and more importantly near the source of Yachats municipal water supply. In 2023 he measured 96.4 inches of rain.
At the Yachats wastewater treatment plant, city crews recorded 66.69 inches of rain in 2023. That amount is slightly below the city’s 10-year average of 73.48 inches of rain.
Nearby, weather watcher Adam Altson measured 69.59 inches of rain in 2023, also near his yearly average.
The city’s 2023 total rainfall was 58 percent of what was measured eight miles to the east.
It’s no different in the Alsea River valley.
At the main Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue station in downtown Waldport, the department measured 97.85 inches of rain in 2023. At its Tidewater station, 12 miles east along the Alsea River, rain gauges measured 136.36 inches of rain last year.
A wet start
A wet first five days of December pushed totals for the month much higher than normal.
The December total at the Yachats wastewater plant was 18.17 inches – including a 24-hour total on Dec. 5 of 4.60 inches. The city’s 10-year average rainfall for the month is 11.87 inches.
Altson, who lives just to the west of the treatment plant, recorded 17.04 inches of rain in December, his highest December total since 2017. He measured 13.43 inches Dec. 1-11.
Adler measured 24.39 inches of rain in December, 10 inches above his 14-year average. Five miles farther inland, Williams recorded 29.25 inches of rain for the month.
Julie Bailey, who lives on Horizon Hill in Yachats, measured 18.99 inches of rain in December and 77.18 inches for all of 2023.
Donald Tucker, who lives two miles north of Yachats on the east side of U.S. Highway 101, recorded 24 inches of rain in December and 80.31 inches for the year. His highest December rainfall in 16 years of record-keeping was 29.52 inches in 2015 and his yearly high was 95.40 inches in 2017.
Other local weather observations for 2023:
- Bailey: Her low and high temperatures for the year: 25 degrees on Feb. 24 and 97 degrees on May 14;
- City of Yachats: Its highest recorded temperature was 95.1 degrees on Mother’s Day and highest wind was 60 mph on Jan. 9;
- Altson: It was unusually warm in December, even warmer than November, despite the very short days. The average high was 56.46 degrees and the average low was 47.47 degrees – both his highest and lowest recorded for December. Also, the fall of 2023 – October, November and December — were the first year Altson did not measure a wind gust greater than 55 mph. He recorded 92 days with a maximum gust at 30 mph or greater but only exceeded 50 mph five times in 2023 – with a maximum gust of 70 mph on Jan. 9. “So we had a lot of days that were moderately windy, but only a few days with strong winds,” he said.
- Tucker: His December rainfall and temperature trend from 2007 to 2023 is increasing. Tucker’s December high temperature was 64 degrees, tying it with December highs in 2017 and 2018. The average December high temperature for the 16 years from 2007 through 2023 rose to 55 degrees, Tucker said, and the low temperature also is on an upward trend – now measuring 46 degrees. “Decembers here are just plain getting warmer year by year,” he said. “Looking at just 2023 as a whole, no records were set, but it is easy to see the amount of rainfall and high and low temps are rising. Interestingly, the average peak wind speed is on a decreasing trend.”