Day-to-day weather is central to our lives here on the coast and is something we always pay plenty of attention to at the Chinook Observer — especially on our website, where we keep readers apprised about potential problems that arise in the gaps between our print-publication dates.

Posting yet another in a string of Winter Storm Warnings late last week, I couldn’t help but add a comment on Facebook that “this weather has gotten old.” Although our wet months have been largely free of atmospheric rivers that instead plowed into California, it has been colder and grayer than any of us like.

In addition to local weather, we routinely keep up with larger-scale climatic predictions, usually thanks to Washington state-based reporter Don Jenkins of our sister publication, the Capital Press. Dedicated to Northwest agriculture, this popular news source understandably devotes ample coverage to temperature and precipitation trends. The Observer runs many of Don’s stories, including those about climate. See, for example, tinyurl.com/Jenkins-spring-outlook and tinyurl.com/Jenkins-nina-ends.

Climate watchers are astounded this year by how quickly the Pacific Ocean is heating up, following three years of cool La Niña conditions. There is concern that a forthcoming strong El Niño heat cycle may bring drought to Northwest farming regions and disrupt normal offshore patterns. El Niño winters often bring destructive violent surf that accelerates coastal erosion. Its warmer waters are conducive to toxic algal blooms, and have been associated with seabird die-offs and fishery collapses. We and the Capital Press will be keeping a close eye on all of this.

As usual, the forthcoming edition of the Chinook Observer will include much information and news you won’t find anywhere else. Reporter Brandon Cline’s careful analysis has uncovered a Pacific County population trend that many will find utterly astounding. Top Washington photographer Luke Whittaker turned his talented eyes to track meets last week; we’ll have many images. And our north county freelancer has his usual insightful coverage of law enforcement and Superior Court.

Thank you for your support. We can’t fulfill our important community missions without you. If you’re not already a subscriber, I’d sure appreciate it if you’d become one.