LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, February 24, 2021
IN BRIEF
Josephy
Center offers
job to students
Ellen Morris Bishop/For the Wallowa County Chieftain
Late-afternoon sunlight illuminates drifting snow over Twin Peaks as another winter weather
system moves into Wallowa County on Feb. 1, 2021.
Winter’s not over yet
‘La Nina-late winter’
should bring cooler,
wetter weather in
coming months
By ELLEN MORRIS
BISHOP
For the Wallowa County
Chieftain
WALLOWA COUNTY
— “It’s been a wild ride this
winter,” according to Pete
Parsons, Oregon Department
of Agriculture meteorologist.
And it’s not over just yet.
“It’s a La Nina-late win-
ter, with the cold weather
coming late,” he said. “The
cool weather is going to stay
with us. The door to the Arc-
tic got opened in the last
10 days of January, and it’s
going to continue off and on
for the next month or two.”
Water in the tropical
Pacifi c Ocean remains in La
Nina’s cooler than normal
state, similar to conditions
in 1971, 1996 and 2008, he
said.
Based upon the close sim-
ilarity to those years, Parsons
suggested that March could
bring more Arctic air out-
breaks to the Midwest, with
very cold air seeping into
Northeast Oregon and the
Pacifi c Northwest.
“We’re looking at a con-
tinuation of February’s pat-
tern,” he said, “although
the cold weather will not
be as bad as it has been in
February.”
For Northeast Oregon,
that means temperatures
around 3 degrees cooler than
normal in March, and con-
tinuing a degree or 2 below
normal and a bit wetter than
normal through May.
The good news, Parsons
said, is that the mountain
snowpack should continue
to build. Chilly March-to-
May temperatures, he said,
suggest that it’s unlikely the
VISIT US ON THE WEB AT:
www.Wallowa.com
snowpack will melt off early
in the season.
As of Feb. 17, the snow-
pack across Northeast Ore-
gon averaged 113% of nor-
mal based on depth. That’s
an improvement over the
Feb. 1 fi gures, and Parsons is
optimistic.
“I think the trend (of
improving snowpack) is
going to continue,” he said.
“I think we are going to end
up with above-normal snow-
pack in the northern half of
the state and near normal
elsewhere in Oregon.”
But snow-water equiv-
alent measurements, as
of Feb. 19, lag behind the
30-year average, according
to Natural Resource Conser-
vation Service data. Moun-
tain soil moisture is also sig-
nifi cantly below normal.
Parsons thinks that next
winter may also be a late-ar-
riving, cold and stormy one.
“We’ll just have to wait
and see,” Parsons said.
JOSEPH — The Jose-
phy Center for Arts and Cul-
ture is seeking an enthusias-
tic, creative and organized
intern to assist staff members
with programs at the center,
according to a press release.
The position is part-time:
5-15 hours per week on Fri-
days, Saturdays and some
afternoons.
Candidates must have
excellent organizational and
basic computer skills, and
should be comfortable inter-
acting with the public, espe-
cially youth. Candidates
should have some work
experience.
The successful applicant
must be in high school, expe-
riencing a gap year or a col-
lege student.
Pay is $11.40 to $12.50
an hour. The job will run
throughout 2021 and beyond.
For details, visit https://
p r e v i e w. t i n y u r l . c o m /
JosephyJob.
To apply, send a letter
and resume to Megan Wolfe,
coordinator@josephy.org.
Metal smithing
class planned
JOSEPH — Back by
popular demand is the Basic
Metal Smithing Class at the
Josephy Center for Arts and
Culture, starting Saturday,
March 13, according to a
press release.
The class, which costs
$75, will run from 9 a.m. to
3:30 p.m. with a half-hour
break for lunch.
Instructor Dona Miller
will lead this one-day class
on the properties of differ-
ent metals, tools needed
and how to use them. This
class teaches the founda-
tions that are the building
blocks for creating jewelry,
along with techniques for
cutting, piercing, texturing,
shaping, fi ling, sanding, fi n-
ishing, polishing and more.
These techniques will cre-
ate a foundation upon which
all other metal working tech-
niques will build when you
are creating jewelry. This
will be done while making
one-of-a-kind pendants.
For more information,
visit
https://tinyurl.com/
metalsclass. Preregister by
Tuesday, March 9.
Spring youth
art classes
taking signups
JOSEPH — Signups
are now being taken for
the spring session of youth
clay classes at the Josephy
Center for Arts and Culture,
according to a press release.
Taught by Pam Beach,
the classes run each Friday
from March 19 to May 7.
Sessions for ages 7-11 are
10-11:30 a.m. and for ages
12-17 from 1-3 p.m.
Tickets for the classes
cost $80.
For more information
or to purchase tickets visit
https://preview.tinyurl.com/
YouthClay.
— Chieftain staff
Ed Staub & Sons has been serving the
energy needs of local communities for
over 60 years. Ed’s founding principles
of integrity, a strong work ethic, and
customer service are still vital compo-
nents of our daily operations.
Eastern Oregon's Premier
Full Service Propane Supplier
201 E. Hwy 82, Enterprise
541-426-0320 • www.edstaub.com
A15