I’ll admit, I’ve been whining about the rain lately. It certainly seems to be coming down harder, and for longer, than it has in recent winters. But my perceptions are subjective. Perhaps I’m just more depressed this year. Perhaps I’m outside more, and so have become more aware of the amount of rain trickling down the back of my neck. I was trained as an experimentalist, and so when push comes to shove, I trust numbers more than some wishy-washy personal opinion.

So, after trudging out to get the paper this morning in yet another downpour, I was gratified to see some actual DATA in the newspaper.

That’s actual rainfall data, y’all. That’s not subjective. To be more precise, that’s the estimated rainfall over the last two weeks in the state of Oregon. In Metro Portland, that translates to anywhere from 5-8 inches. God help them, there are places in the Coast Range that have seen 20 inches of rain over the last fortnight. Time to build an ark.