1000'NorthBend

All I’m asking is that I’m allowed to post my observations without an “actually…”. I really don’t care, I just enjoy PNW weather.

You know exactly what you do and it makes me hesitant to ever post here. Admittedly, I don’t have much in the way of weather knowledge to add anyways. If its sunny only in town, you post the North Bend webcam and ignore our area. If it’s only sunny in our area, you post photos of our area and ignore the clouds in town. Tale as old as time.

Look, I posted what I’m observing down in North Bend from my office (persistent clouds) and what my weather station said at home (65°F). I just stepped outside and can see the dividing line of cloudy and clear skies to the east. I live up against Rattlesnake so if I don’t get morning sun my weather station often runs a bit cooler. I know you’re obsessed with making it appear as sunny and warm as possible in North Bend, but do you have to critique or clarify every post I make?

Persistent cloudy day in North Bend, though we missed out on the drizzle further west. Only 65°F at home after a low of 53°F. FullSizeRender.mov

Our local wild blueberries are quite shaded in comparison to blueberry farms I’d imagine. What you’ve encountered is what I was expecting but instead we’ve gotten these monster berries. I only have photos of a unique white/pink variation we found this year, no taste difference. Small huckleberries are delicious, though I never notice a strong correlation between size and taste. Usually the mediocre ones taste kind of dry and don’t have the juice pop I’m hoping for. Certainly the smaller the more flavorful holds true for wild crawling strawberries, as Costanza would say “this is like a taste explosion!… I think it moved.”

0.01” in the rain gauge today after a light drizzle all morning, still only 57°F. Beautiful cloudy morning. Happy to say I guessed incorrectly about the heatwaves effect on the local berries. While the salmonberries did stop production immediately, the huckleberries are numerous and the largest I’ve ever seen them. They’re honestly comically large this year. Wild blueberries have had a good season, along with the wild strawberries. Dewberries are all over the place. Thimbleberries have just ripened up here and remain my favorite berry, though the deer are tough competition as they like to eat the whole plant to the ground. Found a nice pile of berry-forward bear scat in the yard, so everyone is enjoying the berries this time of year.

This is both heartless and manages to miss the point. Some of us truly care about our native vegetation, native wildlife, our glaciers, the outdoor activities that make the PNW the PNW. You can’t just say “it is what it is” and expect people with actual attachments to our area to think that’s logical. Coastal glaciated mountain range, that’s as rare and epic as it comes in the contiguous US. Massive glaciated volcanos. Orca pods and salmon runs. Every time you post about this you act like things change and that’s that, which is true, but you ignore what will be lost and what will suffer. Will the western Toad pollywogs my kids found at our little lake today still be here in 30 years? Will the ferry captain still be calling out Orca sightings? Will we still hear the Pikas chirping in the rocks at Mt Rainier? If you say who cares, so be it. But it’s so f U c k Ed for you to combat people on this.

It’s been misting all morning here. Not enough to register in the rain gauge, but it feels great

I’m embarrassed to say that I definitely suffer from weather anxiety these days. I miss the summers of my childhood.

The tree damage along Highway 18 between Covington and Hobart is truly jaw-dropping. When I drove through yesterday it looks like nothing was spared. 0.01” of rain yesterday, I’ll take it .

IMG_4662.MOV

The hill is the brownest spot because it’s never in the shade.. the whole point I was making. No need to take a video for me, I drive it multiple times a day and see it myself. Next you’ll be saying that tree disease isn’t rapidly spreading along Rattlesnake Mountain and leaving dead trees littered on the hillside.. oh wait.

Yeah… no. As I pointed out, the grass and vegetation IS brown in the areas that are more sun exposed, not the most shaded spot on the whole drive to town as you photographed. For instance, 10 seconds down the road: or 5 seconds up the road: or 2 seconds up the road:

The condition of the plants in my yard are exactly as “bad” as I say. On Friday, these salmonberry plants were in great shape and the birds and my family were eating berries off them frequently. Yesterday evening, they looked in bad shape. This applied to most of my sun-exposed salmonberry plants. I didn’t call you out on your deceitful “roadside grass is still not totally brown” photo of the most shadowed section of road down to town. Why you insist on challenging me on my imby observations is beyond me.

Looks exactly like ours.. not good. Salmonberry leaves exposed to sun turned blackish and shriveled, berry season for them is probably done. Huckleberries are incredible in size right now, but I expect a stunted berry season. Ferns didn’t look great either. Basically all native plants are not happy.