Blowing Hot and Cold

The National Weather Service tells us that Mother Nature is going to bake us at about 90-95 degrees on one side heading up to and staying in Ashland, and then cool us off to the 60's (and colder overnight) on the other as we cross the coastal mountains to the Oregon Coast and head down through the redwood forests back to the Bay Area. Just typical July weather in Northern California and Southern Oregon.


We've gotten so used to the vagaries of the summer weather in this area (on one trip we experienced all four seasons in a single week) that we now always take along our "Oregon" bag: Shorts, Tee-shirts and flip flops for the days when it is really "cooking", and fleece, rain jackets, wool hats, and gloves for the days when low pressure drags the clouds and precipitation off the sea and over land to douse the heat wave that has just roasted the tourists and locals alike.

Several years ago we left Ashland under sunny skies during the 3rd week in July for Bend's volcanic wonderland, only to meet clouds and drizzle a half hour later in Medford, and winter temperatures and snow flurries at Crater Lake. So while we're gone and folks back home in the Bay Area are experiencing our same-ol' same-ol' summer days, we'll be having "weather" at one extreme or the other.