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Posts tagged as “Oregon”

Appearances to the contrary

January 10, 2009

Man, was last a wet year, huh? Storms at the front, storms at the end, unprecedented snowfall in December . . . it just had to be a record-breaker, didn't it?

While we await numbers from the Pacific Northwest overall, take a look at this analysis in the McMinnville News-Register: The measurement area in the North Willamette valley in 2008 turned in one of the driest years on record, one of the very driest in the last half-century:

"In 2008, McMinnville received only 24.7 inches of precipitation. That's nearly 20 inches less than its 50-year average of 44.66 inches. It's just 55 percent of normal. It's also the smallest total since World War II. Precipitation came in below average every single month of 2008, even December, when the area received more than 18 inches of snow."

Snuffed out

January 1, 2009

A few blocks down the street is a pub that features, besides its beverages and pool tournaments, some above-average burgers, fries and other comfort food. We've eaten there only occasionally, though; the barrier has been its status as a smoking-allowed establishment.

After today, that will be no more, and the smoke and tobacco gradually will start to clear out. And we may become more consistent customers. The turning point is a change in Oregon law, banning smoking in most of the remaining business and public places where it has been allowed until now - a law that generally matches with one passed not long ago in Washington. Studies there showed a period of static business for some months after the change, and then growth - in many cases, new prosperity for establishments that went no-smoke. We'll be watching to see if that happens in Oregon too. We guess it will.

Memorializing the occasion, a longish set of posts - linking here to the first one - in the Portland Mercury blog - touring the end of an era in the Portland bar scene.