Water falls from gray billowy things in the Portland skies

At about noon today, something that I believe is called “rain” fell out of something called “clouds” onto this little corner of Oregon.

It only lasted for five or ten minutes, but it was bona fide rain alright, though according to Weather Underground it entirely missed the airport, the official arbiter of weather events in these parts. So there will be no record of it happening, but I swear up and down that it did.

I wouldn’t lie to you. At least very often.

And if you’re asking yourself: “But isn’t it supposed to rain all the time there?”—I’m here to tell you that the answer is most definitely ‘no.’

You’re thinking of London.

It’s so sunny and dry (and often hot) in Portland in the summer that you almost literally forget what a cloud, and especially rain, looks like. It’s relentlessly sunny. In 2004-2005, the summer sun extended deep into fall and winter, and the real rains didn’t come until late winter and early spring….