As the northeast is starting to feel the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, I think about our weather here in the Yakima Valley. And really, it's not that bad.

I have a brother in Florida and a friend in Alabama that have to deal with hurricanes and tornadoes. My colleague Dave Ettl tells me stories about sub-zero, white out winters in  North Dakota. My family in Phoenix relays me information about what 115 degree summer days feel like. A friend in western New York state talks about lake effect snowstorms.  Another brother that lives in western Washington has to deal yearly with downed trees and power outages from winter pacific storms.

Here in the Yakima Valley, we really don't have to deal with severe weather like that, at least not on a regular basis. Here we have four distinct seasons, each with weather that is pretty typical. Windy, sometimes wet springs, a few triple digit days each summer, mild falls that turn to cold, mostly dry winters. We might get a few sub-zero winter nights here and there, but nothing that lingers for months. We don't get weather that has the potential for devastation like tornadoes, hurricanes, major floods and the like.

We do have to deal with weather related problems like wildfires, or the possibility of another volcanic eruption like Mt. St. Helens or heaven forbid, Mt. Rainier. And we might get the occasional foot of snow that may slow us down, but doesn't paralyze the community.

All in all, when it comes to severe weather, we have it pretty good.

 

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