NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, October 24, 2019
Winter outlook leans toward the mild side
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
PORTLAND — Odds
modestly favor above-aver-
age temperatures in Wash-
ington, Oregon, Idaho and
Northern California this
winter, the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric
Administration’s Climate
Prediction Center said
Thursday.
Without a strong sig-
nal from Pacific Ocean
temperatures, forecasters
relied on a trend toward
milder winters and long-
term climate forces for
their outlook for November,
December and January.
Sea-surface
tempera-
tures at the equatorial
Pacific Ocean are neutral
— neither unusually warm,
as in an El Niño, nor unusu-
ally cool, in a La Niña.
Even though conditions are
neutral, extreme events are
possible, NOAA said.
“Without either El Niño
or La Niña conditions,
short-term climate patterns
like the Arctic Oscillation
will drive winter weather
and could result in large
swings in temperature and
precipitation,”
Climate
Prediction Center deputy
director Mike Halpert said
in a statement.
Forecasters said they
Capital Press Photo/Brad Carlson, File
The outlook for this winter calls for a modest chance of above-average temperatures.
have even fewer clues as
to how much precipita-
tion will fall. Washington,
most of Oregon and most of
Idaho have equal chances
of normal, above-normal
and below-normal amounts
of precipitation.
Odds slightly favor
below-average
precipi-
tation in southwest Ore-
gon and Northern Califor-
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
Sunny to partly
cloudy
Mostly sunny;
breezy in the p.m.
Mostly sunny and
cooler
Cool with sunshine
Plenty of sunshine
nia. Odds are tilted toward
above-average precipita-
tion in the Idaho Panhandle.
Climate norms are based
on regional median precip-
itation and temperatures
Brown appoints panel to
address health care costs
Associated Press
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
70° 38°
65° 43°
54° 30°
52° 27°
53° 31°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
74° 40°
66° 39°
59° 33°
57° 26°
OREGON FORECAST
57° 32°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
62/48
56/41
62/37
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
63/46
Lewiston
65/45
66/38
Astoria
64/48
Pullman
Yakima 61/35
62/44
60/41
Portland
Hermiston
68/47
The Dalles 66/39
Salem
Corvallis
66/45
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
59/38
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
65/43
69/42
63/39
Ontario
60/29
Caldwell
Burns
62°
34°
62°
37°
80° (1933) 20° (1935)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
66/43
0.00"
0.18"
0.46"
4.94"
6.29"
7.02"
Today
76/39
Fri.
SE 3-6
SW 4-8
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
WSW 10-20
WSW 8-16
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
66/28
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
7:23 a.m.
5:55 p.m.
2:40 a.m.
4:40 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
Oct 27
Nov 4
Nov 12
Nov 19
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 99° in Palm Springs, Calif. Low 11° in Lake George, Colo.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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Copyright © 2019, EO Media Group
SALEM — Oregon Gov.
Kate Brown has announced
the members of a new com-
mittee tasked with con-
trolling rising health care
costs.
The Statesman Journal
reported the committee —
made up of government offi-
cials, union representatives
and health care professionals
— is responsible for creating
an annual target for health
care cost growth and provid-
ing recommendations to the
Legislature on how to man-
age unreasonable costs.
Insurance
companies,
hospitals and health care pro-
viders will be required to stay
within that growth target.
The first benchmark
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
Man suspected of breaking
into Ochoco Ranger Station
BEND — A large sign alongside U.S.
Highway 97, hung on a chain-link fence
Tuesday next to Kohl’s, proclaimed that
In-N-Out Burger would be “here soon”
in Bend. But an executive with the wildly
popular California burger chain said the
sign was fake, and In-N-Out has no current
plans to open a Bend location.
“Unfortunately, the sign must have been
placed there by a prankster, or someone
suggesting that we will soon be opening
a restaurant in Bend,” wrote Carl Arena,
In-N-Out’s vice president of real estate and
development, in an email to the Bend Bul-
letin on Tuesday. “Our real estate team is
always evaluating new sites, and we con-
tinue to look at opportunities in Oregon.
However, we have not yet looked at any
sites in Bend.”
Phyllis Cudworth, a marketing coor-
dinator with the fast-food chain, said in a
phone interview that sometimes people
take In-N-Out’s signs from legitimate con-
struction sites and hang them up in other
locations.
Arena wrote that although there are no
current plans to build a location in Bend,
In-N-Out has its eye on Central Oregon for
future development — maybe.
“We do believe that Bend is a great area
and we do hope to be there in the future, but
we are unable to speculate when or even if
we will open a restaurant there,” he wrote.
BEND — An 18-year-old Prineville man
was arrested for allegedly breaking into
the Ochoco Ranger Station and stealing
explosives.
Kaden Michael Bernard is being held
in the Crook County Jail on suspicion of
first-degree burglary, first-degree theft,
first-degree criminal mischief and other
charges.
On Sept. 21, Bernard allegedly used bolt
cutters and a power saw to illegally enter the
Ochoco Ranger Station warehouse on state
Highway 42, according to his indictment in
Crook County Circuit Court.
Inside, he allegedly stole blasting caps,
an explosive belonging to the U.S. Forest
Service, and caused more than $1,000 dam-
age to explosive storage magazines.
Bernard was arrested and booked into
jail Sept. 22, according the jail website.
He was arraigned Sept. 26. His next court
hearing is a pretrial conference Oct. 30.
The Forest Service maintains a blasting
program for tree removal and trail and road
maintenance, according to USFS Spokes-
man Patrick Lair.
“They are kept secured and monitored,”
Lair said.
USFS Ranger Stations in the Rocky
Mountain region occasionally use dynamite
to dispose of grizzly or horse carcasses, Lair
said.
— EO Media Group
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insurance deductibles in Ore-
gon are the third-highest
nationally. The state is also in
the top 10 for percent of fam-
ily budgets spent on out-of-
pocket health costs.
A 3.4% growth rate for
public programs already
exists, but this new bench-
mark would target the private
market.
It’s modeled after a pro-
gram in Massachusetts
that has saved consumers
$5.5 billion between 2013
and 2017 compared to the
national average. Oregon was
the fourth state to implement
a spending benchmark.
It was created by the Leg-
islature this year through
Senate Bill 889, which
received bipartisan support
in both chambers.
In-N-Out not coming to Bend;
sign off Highway 97 is fake
Subscriber services:
For mail delivery, online access, vacation stops
or delivery concerns call 1-800-522-0255 ext. 1
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52 weeks
26 weeks
13 weeks
from the committee will
be reported to the Ore-
gon Health Policy Board for
approval by Sept. 15, 2020.
The committee’s report will
include a legislative concept
for implementation and pos-
sible enforcement actions if
a provider or payer exceeds
that target.
“All Oregonians should
have access to the health care
services they need to live
healthy and productive lives,”
Brown said in a statement. “If
we do not control the rising
costs of health care, too many
Oregon families, particularly
those in historically under-
served communities, will
again find the care they need
is beyond their reach.”
According to the Ore-
gon Health Authority, health
BRIEFLY
WINDS (in mph)
58/30
60/23
Trace
0.46"
0.75"
11.31"
7.91"
9.69"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 57/37
66/45
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
65/43
65/42
60°
36°
60°
38°
82° (1933) 19° (1916)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
62/43
Aberdeen
55/38
58/40
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
62/48
between 1981 and 2010.
Some forecasting mod-
els predict a weak La Niña
will form by late winter,
while other models fore-
see a weak El Niño. For
the winter outlook, NOAA
assumed neutral conditions
will prevail through the
winter and into the spring.
Above-average
tem-
peratures are favored in
most of the U.S. Tempera-
tures in the Upper Plains
are Great Lakes are a
toss-up. Nowhere do the
odds favor below-average
temperatures.
The best odds for a
warmer than average win-
ter are in western Alaska,
according to NOAA. The
ocean around Alaska is
unusually warm, and there
has been a trend toward
later frosts and less sea ice.
The warm water near
Alaska could heat air enter-
ing the Western U.S. early
in the winter, but the uncer-
tainty of whether the water
will stay warm limits its
value in looking ahead,
according to NOAA.
The Northwest will
enter the winter fairly wet.
There are no drought con-
ditions in Washington,
Oregon, Idaho and North-
ern California, the U.S.
Drought Monitor reported
Thursday.
Parts of Western Wash-
ington and Oregon are still
classified as “abnormally
dry” after a summer of
being in a “moderate” or
“severe” drought.
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