After some cold and hot, some wet and dry, weather on central Oregon coast in 2022 turned out to be fairly normal

 

By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews

YACHATS – A cold spring, a rainy June and December, and a warm, dry September and October all ended up combining to make 2022 a very average weather year for the central Oregon coast.

But when it comes to weather, average can be OK.

A wet end to the month of December brought yearly rain totals right to long-term averages kept by YachatsNews’ weather watchers.

“Comparing 2022 against the previous 14 years, I’d say generally 2022 was pretty normal,” said Don Tucker, who lives two miles north of Yachats and has been closely tracking coastal weather since 2007. “The single exception was the number of rain days. I recorded the lowest number of rain days – 191 — since the previous low of 193 in 2015.”

Tucker recorded 10.76 inches of rain in December and 69.25 inches for all of 2022 – less than an inch below his 15-year average of 70.03 inches of rain a year.

Here is what other YachatsNews’ weather watchers recorded in December, for 2022 and their observations.

At the city of Yachats’ wastewater treatment plant, supervisor Dave Buckwald measured 10.58 inches in December and 57.64 inches for the year. The 10-year average at the plant is 70 inches.

Adam Altson, who lives near the wastewater plant, measured 10.88 inches in December – including 6.62 inches that came in the last eight days of the month — and 58.83 inches for the year.

Altson’s other observations: the first big windstorm of the winter came on Dec. 27, when he measured a maximum gust of 62 mph, numerous gusts above 50 mph and sustained winds as high as 41 mph.

Yachats high temperature for the year was 84.3 degrees on Oct. 1 and the low was 24.3 degrees on Feb 23 – the coldest temperature Altson had measured since 2013.

It is, of course, much different up the Yachats River valley when it comes to rain – which is a good thing for Yachats’ municipal water supply – because totals upriver can be double what they are in the city.

Jim Adler lives three miles upriver and has been recording rainfall for 14 years. He measured 14.85 inches in December and 89.08 inches for 2022 – both slightly above his 14-year average for both the month and year.

Bob Williams, who lives eight miles upriver, had 20.71 inches of rain in December and 108.83 for all of 2022. Both are above average for the four years he has been keeping records.

Jean-Marc Rolland, who lives 10 miles upriver, recorded 19.64 inches in December, and 99.64 inches for 2022. Rolland noted that the most rain in a single day – 5.74 inches – fell on Dec. 27 and he observed the first frost of the fall on Nov. 14.

When it comes to weather statistics, Tucker says 15 years is a short time for anyone looking for real long-term trends “so I look at these numbers with prejudice.”

“Over 15 years it seems temperatures and rainfall have stabilized to some extent,” he said. “Notwithstanding, I’m convinced that we are experiencing a continuing but very gradual increase in high and low temperatures along with a decrease in rainfall and lower peak winds.”