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Wednesday, January 18, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
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National Weather Service Alert — Hydrological Forecast
The National Weather Service is predict-
ing warmer temperatures, rising snow levels
and periods of rain to much of the area begin-
ning Tuesday night and lasting through at least
Thursday. Snow levels will rise to between
6,500 and 8,500 feet Tuesday night through
Wednesday. Below these snow levels expect
periods of rain, moderate at times, with the
first batch moving through from Tuesday night
through Wednesday night. Another system
will bring additional rain and higher-elevation
snow from late Thursday night through Friday
night. Precipitation amounts through Thursday
are expected to range from one-quarter to
three-quarters of an inch over the lower basins
of Central Oregon. Expect between 1 to 2
inches, with locally as much as 3 inches of pre-
cipitation along the east slopes of the Oregon
Cascades.
These precipitation amounts will combine
with the aforementioned warmer temperatures
and high snow levels to create some hydrologic
concerns. Much of the rain should initially be
absorbed within the snow pack, but eventually
this will begin to melt, especially in the lower
elevations. This rain on snow scenario will add
additional weight to already stressed build-
ings and roofs in locations that currently have
a deep snowpack. The potential impacts from
the snowmelt and rainfall runoff include pond-
ing of water where storm drains or ditches are
clogged with snow and ice, ponding of water
in low-lying areas with poor drainage or frozen
ground, possible ice jams on small creeks and
rivers that have frozen over.
While no major river flooding is forecast
at this time, this is an evolving situation and
should be monitored regularly for updates.
Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
Perhaps because I am a builder, I’ve been
asked by several people if I thought it neces-
sary to have snow shoveled off their roof. My
initial response was “look: I’m not an engi-
neer, I have no idea.” Then I asked them how
many residential structures they know of in
the past 50 years that have failed due to snow
loads? This may have relieved their minds,
but I continued to fret if I was giving out poor
advice.
We’ve all heard about the gym roof fail-
ure in Bend, and some of you may be aware
of the horse arena collapse on Goodrich Rd.
These were long-span structures with no pitch
or shallow-pitched roofs. But it got me think-
ing—and talking to my structural engineer.
Residential structures in Deschutes County
are required by code to have a minimum live/
snow load capacity of 25 pounds per square
foot. But how much does a one-square-foot-
column of snow actually weigh? Obviously
the answer depends on depth and moisture
content.
Turns out that as of Saturday, in Tollgate,
on undisturbed ground the snow measured
30 inches deep. When melted down a one-
foot-square column of snow 30 inches high
produced 3.4 gallons of water. That water
weighed 28.5 pounds — several pounds over
code design load.
But aren’t there safety factors built into the
design load? (I was searching for an excuse
not to shovel my roof). Yes, there are, but this
was my engineers response:
“The safety factor is a tricky deal and there
is no specific number we use. If you can get
weight off your roof down to the design snow
load, that is the best option.”
So I decided to shovel snow off the roof
over my garage and kitchen, as those are the
areas that rely on longer span trusses. I’m not
worrying about the rest of the house because
interior walls keep the simple-beam spans
more “reasonable.”
I hope this helps some of you decide what
might be needed on your homes to increase the
margin of safety — or simply sleep better at
night.
Kris Calvin
Sisters Weather Forecast
Courtesy of the National Weather Service, Pendleton, Oregon
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Rain
Chance rain/snow
Rain likely
Chance snow
Chance snow
Chance snow
43/27
37/28
38/25
36/23
35/18
35/na
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N
Robert B.
Reich
American Voices
Tyrants don’t allow open
questioning, and they hate
the free press. They want
total control.
That’s why, according to
three senior officials on the
transition team, the incom-
ing Trump administration
is considering evicting the
White House press corps
from the press room inside
the White House and mov-
ing them—and news confer-
ences—to a conference cen-
ter or to the old Executive
Office Building.
This may sound like a
small logistic matter. It’s
not. The White House press
room contains work stations
and broadcast booths, and
the briefing area for presi-
dential news conferences.
Reporters have had work-
space at the White House
since Teddy Roosevelt was
president, in 1902.
But we’re in a new era,
the reign of King Trump.
Sean Spicer, Trump’s
press secretary, acknowl-
edges “there has been some
discussion about how” to
move the press out of the
White House. Spicer says
it’s because the new admin-
istration would like a larger
room to allow more mem-
bers of the press to attend
press conferences.
Rubbish. It’s because a
larger room would allow the
administration to fill seats
with “alt-right” fringe jour-
nalists, right-wing social
media, Trump supporters
and paid staffers. They’d be
there to ask the questions
Trump wants to answer, and
to jeer at reporters who ask
critical questions, and to
applaud Trump’s answers.
The move would allow
Trump to play the crowd.
That’s exactly what hap-
pened at Trump’s so-called
“news conference” on
Jan. 11. It wasn’t really a
press conference at all, and
shouldn’t have been charac-
terized as one. It was a fake
news conference that took
place in a large auditorium.
In the audience were
paid staffers who jeered
and snickered when report-
ers asked critical questions,
and cheered every time
Trump delivered one of his
campaign zingers. It could
easily have been one of his
rallies.
In this carnival atmo-
sphere it was easy for Trump
to refuse to answer ques-
tions from reporters who
have run stories he doesn’t
like, and from news outlets
that have criticized him.
He slammed CNN for
dispensing “fake news,”
called BuzzFeed “a pile of
garbage,” and sarcastically
called the BBC “another
beauty.” The audience loved
it.
Just as he did in his ral-
lies, Trump continued call-
ing the press “dishonest”
— part of his ongoing effort
to discredit the press and to
reduce public confidence
in it.
And he repeatedly lied.
But the media in attendance
weren’t allowed to follow
up or to question him on his
lies.
Trump asserted at his
fake news conference that
“I have no deals that could
happen in Russia, because
we’ve stayed away. And I
have no loans with Russia.”
Wrong again. Trump
repeatedly sought deals in
Russia. In a 2008 speech,
Donald Trump Jr. said,
“Russians make up a pretty
disproportionate cross-sec-
tion of a lot of our assets,”
and “we see a lot of money
pouring in from Russia.”
Trump’s statements at
his fake news conference
were, and are, big lies. At
the very least, they should
have been followed up with
questions from the White
House press corps. That
would have happened at a
real news conference.
Which is the danger
of evicting the press from
the White House and put-
ting press conferences into
a large auditorium: Trump
won’t be called on his lies.
A senior official admitted
the move was a reaction to
hostile press coverage. The
view at the highest reaches
of the incoming administra-
tion is that the press is the
enemy. “They are the oppo-
sition party,” said the senior
official. “I want ’em out of
the building. We are taking
back the press room.”
The incoming Trump
administration is intent on
neutering the White House
press corps. If it happens, it
will be another step toward
neutering our democracy.
©2017 By Robert Reich;
Distributed by Tribune
Content Agency, LLC
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.