Dell asked, At 02:31 PM 7/19/2006 -0400, you wrote: >Dear Jane and Joyce and others who live in Oregon, > >I recently visited relatives in Tigard, OR (SW of Portland) and traveled to >the vicinity of Mt Hood, the fruit growing region on the northeast of the >mountain. I know that in CA, the climate/zone/temps and rainfall can vary >dramatically from east to west. My relatives told me that in Tigard, there >is very little snow and temps rarely get lower than 25F. Is this also true >of Gresham, Estacada, and other towns east of Portland? No, it is not. Towns east of Portland, especially Gresham, Sandy, and Troutdale, are subject to continental east winds through the Columbia Gorge, which can drop the temperature drastically in winter and raise it in summer. The Estacada area, where I live, experiences somewhat less severe east winds through the Clackamas River gap in the Cascades. Tigard is nearly at sea level (I think about 40 feet elevation) in the flat Willamette Valley, whereas my land is at 1600 feet in the Cascade foothills (southwwest of Mt. Hood) and is usually 5 to 10 degrees F colder than the Portland airport, which is in turn somewhat colder than it would be in Tigard, West Linn, Lake Oswego, and some of the other suburbs southwest of the Portland city center. However, these western suburbs can experience colder temperatures when an inversion layer associated with the Coast Range lies above them. Snowfall in the Portland area occurs quite variably and is much more common above 1000 feet elevation -- such as on the high ridges west of the city center, or in areas to the east such as where I live. Such microclimatic variation is typical of parts of the western USA near high mountains and major rivers. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon, USA