Life In A Lop-sided County

By Tomi Owens, 2-23-07

	Caption: Looking south up the Hood River Valley Mt. Hood is hidden, wrapped in its own private cloud.

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The alarm rings at 6am every weekday morning. (Not because I need to get out of bed because, heck, I’m a writer, and pajamas ‘til noon are par for the course.) The alarm goes off at six so I can get the kiddies up, lunches packed, breakfast scrambled and boot the little darlings out the door to school.

And every winter morning before actually waking the kids, I take a precautionary peek out the window to check for snow, ice or frost. The slightest hint, and I mean the slightest hint of any chill weather and I immediately call the “Snow Phone” to make sure Hood River County schools are running on time. Or even running at all.

Today when I looked out at the brightening dawn there were clear skies and a little residual moisture clinging to the sidewalk and street. However, as I woke my eldest son, he pulled the covers over his head and said he had dreamed there was a snow delay today. Now, all ten year old boys dream about snow days, but I humored him and we sat on the edge of his bed and dialed the Snow Phone together. 

Well, you probably guessed or already know because you too are killing time on the internet this morning, HRC schools are two hours delayed. In a school district stretching from Hood River and Cascade Locks on the Columbia at 400’ elevation to Cooper Spur at 4000’, weather tends to be rather lop-sided.  What I see out my window is no indication of the conditions anywhere else in the county. Ice, snow, and dense fogs can cripple the upper valley yet deliver nothing more than light drizzle in Hood River.

The elevation change is only a small factor in the asymmetrical conditions. Mount Hood, like all big mountains, creates its own weather. Coupled with the warm, wet systems that roll in from the Pacific and Mt. Hood churns out all sorts of bizarre microclimates: sun in HR, giant hail stones in CL, a blizzard in PD. Who knows? 

When the weather gets weird and HRC pulls the plug on the whole county, my being a card-carrying, pajama-wearing, “stay home” writer has its advantages. I’m not stressing to find someone to watch my kids before rushing off to the office and can even open my house to my son’s friends whose parents are rushing off to the office. It’s a great excuse to indulge in leisurely pancakes, bacon and chocolate milk for breakfast and let the kids stay in their pajamas ‘til 9.