When streams are ripe and swelled with rain

It was 75 degrees and sunny here in Portlandia on Thursday. Now it's 39 degrees and raining. It's supposed to turn to snow over the next couple of hours and snow the rest of the night. But it shouldn't get cold enough to stick, they say. Famous last words.

I'm sure the TV news people are going nuts with this. Send the youngest reporter up to the Sylvan overpass to stand out in it, stat! StormCenter 9000.3, and all that. 'Round-the-clock hysteria.

But this is familiar weather for western Oregon, so let's not fret too much, or complain. In fact, we should be taking comfort. In this day and age, familiar weather is good.

UPDATE, middle of the night: The snow's coming down hard enough that it's sticking on the street. Heavy, wet snow. But the air temperature on the front porch is 35.

UPDATE, Monday afternoon: By commute time this morning, it had gone beyond normal.