A8
LOCAL
Wallowa County Chieftain
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
Region has yet to hit 90 degrees
year after oppressive heat wave
By JEFF BUDLONG
Wallowa County Chieftain
PENDLETON – Last
year’s scorching hot tem-
peratures and lack of pre-
cipitation took a heavy toll
on the area, but thankfully
spring and the beginning of
summer have been much
more normal.
Eastern Oregon has yet
to reach 90 degrees this
year with the last triple-digit
day coming Aug. 15, 2021
when it hit 101 in Wallowa
County and Aug. 3, 2021 in
Union County, according to
National Weather Service
Assistant Forecaster Ann
Adams out of Pendleton.
Weather that warm is not
expected in the area in the
near future.
Adams did not see 90
degree temperatures for the
region in the next several
days, and it may not hap-
pen until a further warm-up
is expected to begin next
month.
Last year’s extreme tem-
peratures had an impact on
seemingly everything, even
baby hawks were falling up
to 60 feet from their nests to
either death or injury to try to
escape the oppressive heat.
Currently, temperatures
in the region are ranging
from high 70s to mid 80s,
which is close to normal for
this time of year. The biggest
diff erence between this year
and last is avoiding the sig-
nifi cant high pressure sys-
tem that dominated much of
summer 2021.
“Last year was a bump
away from the normal pat-
terns,” Adams said. “We
had a larger, stronger, dry-
air mass over the North-
west and it stayed put last
year. It persisted over our
area and heated up the
entire West. We just hap-
pened to be under the
deepest part of that ridge.”
Cloud
cover
and
above-average
precipita-
tion has kept things cooler
in the region. The northern
section of Union county is
not under drought condi-
tions while Wallowa County
and the remainder of Union
ranges from abnormally
dry to severe drought. The
increased precipitation is not
expected to last the rest of
the summer.
“Northeast Oregon has a
40% chance of being above
normal in temperature over
the next three months,”
Adams said. “Precipitation
will be below normal rainfall
over that same time period.”
Temperatures over the
next few days in Wallowa
and Union counties are
expected to be in the low-
to mid-80s. That is not the
same for much of the rest of
Oregon as 100-degree tem-
peratures are likely.
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Jack Parry/Wallowa County Chieftain
Customers look around at the various market tents at the Wallowa County Farmers Market in
Joseph on June 18, 2022.
Wallowa County Farmers Market
is back without restrictions
By JACK PARRY
Wallowa County Chieftain
JOSEPH — The clouds
stretched over Main Street
on Saturday afternoon with
a darkish hue, but the tents
at the Wallowa County
Farmers Market were pre-
pared for yet another day of
precipitation.
“It has rained every sin-
gle Saturday, which has been
wonderful,” Jessica Bog-
ard, the manager of the mar-
ket, mockingly replied after
it rained at each of the fi rst
four days of the market since
its return May 28.
Despite the rain, custom-
ers were fl oating in and out
of various tents. Local artist
and vendor Kosiah Sword
of Happy Day Paintings
attributed this to the out-
doorsy nature of the locals.
“We are Oregonians, so
people show up regardless,”
she said.
While the customers may
still be showing up, the past
few years of the COVID-19
pandemic have been tough
for the event, especially with
Jack Parry/Wallowa County Chieftain
Local customers chat during the Wallowa County Farmers
Market in Joseph on Saturday, June 18, 2022.
previous distancing rules.
“We had roped-off perim-
eters, we had distance
between us, hand-wash-
ing stations,” Bogard said.
“We had a lot more expense
just to keep up with the
restrictions.”
The pandemic also caused
a few businesses to not return
this year, and it forced other
vendors like Sword to step in
for a full season, something
she’s never done before.
“For artists like me, hav-
ing a lot of the events can-
celed has had a really big
impact on sales,” she said.
Finally free from the
restrictions of the pandemic
after a hard two years, it
seems business has been
good for the market, even
without the sun.
“It’s been great, people
have been really support-
ive,” Andrea Rodriguez of
True Mountain Coff ee said.