Web Roundup for the shortest day of the year

by Tryan Hartill

Lots of issues to bring up today. First of which is that it is the first day of winter. If it seems like it gets dark at 3pm….you’re not that far off. Today is the shortest day of the year. Which means we have 364 days with more daylight ahead of us….all in a row!!!

Weather Talk…Dry!!

Dry month and dry year. Without any major rainfall events, December 2007 looks to be a pretty dry month. We average over 10.5 inches for December and will probably have under 6. The year was also fairly dry, as we usually see about 67 inches and will end up with something closer to 55.
The main reason for such a dry month is that storms seem to be tracking north. Many have formed and dropped down from Alaska, but they swing into the ocean and seem to return to Alaska again. This has caused many of the false storm alarms over the last 2 weeks. Some of them are even coming within a 100 miles of the coast…with 50mph plus winds, but then tracking straight North or even North East. This pattern looks to continue for a while.

More Weather Discussion??

Roger Stone has an interesting opinion piece in the Daily A tonight. He talks about trying to persuade NOAA to set their West Coast Headquarters at Tongue Point. I think it would be a good thing to look into, but I don’t think it’s as simple as Roger describes. As most know, Tongue Point is very shallow. I have no idea how big NOAA ships are, but only smaller ones could dock there. There is also the issue of communications. NOAA will undoubtedly need a major communication network to the country and world. Down in the bottom of a hole does not seem like the best place. Even if there is a possibility to bring them in, first thing we need is a decent buoy system on the Oregon Coast. The recent storms knocked some offline, but there were issues even before that. Only a handful are the larger type that give a detailed look at the current weather. Most are drifting buoys that only give the current Atmospheric Pressure, which is woefully inadequate for the detailed forecast that our fishing fleet needs.

Other Local News

Folks are piling into the State Building on Marine Drive. Anyone can go down and try for FEMA money. For most of those that qualify, they get $150 to $300 in food stamps for food that perished during the storm. The program is accepting sign-ups until January 2nd.

On Thursday Night the Astoria Kiwanis had their yearly Foster Kids Dinner at the Elks Lodge. Each year we put on a Dinner and hand out presents to Foster Kids around the county. This year we had a turnout of about 120. This is one of our best events of the year. And if you bought a Christmas tree in the Safeway lot this year….this is what the money went to….thanks to all that made it possible.

And for other local news updates, check the “Newsbar” on the right throughout the day. There are 10-15 new stories everyday.

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