[pwd72s]

If this happened every year, I'd be gone. Snow itself happens every year, but mostly in the high desert towns east of the Cascade Mountains. Here in the Willamette Valley, snow on the ground is fairly rare...once every couple of years, but it's usually gone by the next day. Mountain passes get snow, lots of it, every year. Think I read somewhere that an inch of rain equals a foot of snow, and we get well over 3 feet of rain per year where I live. Last time I saw krap this bad was mid 1970's for ice...but we had one hell of a blizzard back in '69 that kept things shut down for a couple of weeks. Right now, I'm looking forward to our usual winter weather pattern of temps in the low to mid 40's, and rain...lots of rain! Oregon is a state of many different climates. Before they tore the town down, (another story)Valsetz, Oregon (coast range) was the wettest spot in the lower 48, with an average rainfall of over 14 feet per year. On the other hand, Bend, Oregon, perhaps 150 miles East of Valsetz, gets an annual rain/snow fall (measured as H20) of maybe 12-18" (guessing here...relying on memory from having lived there for a couple of years) and is high desert sagebrush type country.