Living With Trees

Kathleen Sayce, originally written in 2008, updated 2024 

Living with trees is like living with elephants: both are darling when young, beautiful in maturity, and at times awesomely dangerous. Sometimes it takes a  severe storm to remind us trees can also be fatally damaged. Responsible tree care includes knowing when to take an older tree out.  One of the saddest days of my life was the day I realized that five old trees (redwood, Sitka spruce, western red cedar, and Douglas-fir) had to come out of my yard. They had grown too big for safety. 

Planting a tree is committing to multigenerational management, which is to say the sapling you plant today may become a problem for your children or grandchildren. 

The most successful trees to plant are disease and insect resistant; grow slowly over most of their lives; do not have toxic seeds or leaves; do not break off branches in most storms; may provide showy leaves, flowers or fruit some time during the year; and tolerate winter wet/cold and summer drought/heat. No one tree perfectly meets all these criteria, but many come close. 

The following is a summary of the ‘right tree in the right place with the right care’ wisdom, so that you can plant new trees that will do well for many decades.

Basic considerations: 

• Don’t let ivy grow into trees; ivy slowly kills them, impairing growth and adding to the canopy area; ivy-swathed trees may tip over due to wind-throw and broken roots, or die girdled under vines. 
• Pay attention to soil conditions. If you live on a dry site, don’t plant trees that like wet feet; if you live in wetlands, don’t plant trees that need dry feet. 
• Learn the signs of danger trees, especially for large trees, and remove these individuals when needed. Leaning, fungal diseases, dead tops, large broken branches:  these are all signs a tree is struggling.
• Fall is a good planting time for trees; you’ll water less next summer. Tree roots establish quickly over winter, and trees begin growing well the next spring when fall-planted. 
• Supplement with mulch instead of pavement, rocks or turf for improved tree health in confined spaces, but know that when surrounded by building foundations, paved roads, driveways and sidewalks, trees are not as healthy as growing on open land. 
• Pick locations that are not close to buildings. There’s nothing sadder than seeing a tree planted within eight feet of a building. The roots can’t grow under the building; half the canopy will not have room to grow—there’s a wall in the way. 
• For big trees near new structures, watch for signs of dieback after construction. The bigger the tree, the farther roots spread, and the more sensitive that tree is to root damage.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with planting native trees in yards. The problem is space. Most grow very rapidly to quite large sizes; additionally, several don’t live very long (cottonwood, shore pine and red alder, in particular). This means, in terms of managing big elephants in small yards, that they quickly reach impressive sizes, and then die earlier than expected.

There are numerous websites to help select yard and street trees. For the maritime Pacific Northwest, Great Plant Picks is a good place to start for yard trees (https://www.greatplantpicks.org/. Navigate to Plant Lists / Helpful Lists / Trees for recommended trees for yards).

Words and Phrases for Rain

Initially compiled Winter 2013 for CPHM Local Historians Project, Kathleen Sayce

Work in progress!  New idioms appear regularly.

Background:  

This started as a very short list to illustrate the range of rains that I often hike in, for my first published list of plants growing in Clatsop and Pacific Counties, 1998. 

Very quickly I found that there were many terms for rain. English being an innovative and dynamic language, our use of words is constantly changing.  Also, phrases that started into use in the Pacific Northwest are spreading rapidly around the world.  I stopped counting at 120 words and phrases. 

The weather service, in its desire to standardize the use of weather terms, keeps redefining and expanding its vocabulary, including use of terms like ‘sun break’ and ‘pineapple express’—the latter is now called atmospheric river. 

This list is updated regularly. It was first shared in 2013 with the very first Community Historians Class at CPHM.

How does Rain Happen?

The process is always the same:  Warm air holds more moisture than cold air. When a warm air mass cools off, rain drops form and when they get large enough to fall (gravity pulls on them), it rains. 

Cooling happens one of two ways:  

Warm air rises, and cools as it does so, by going up over mountains. Oreographic rain results, which is very common in our area. 

Or, warm air masses collide with cool air masses. This is common in the Great Plains and Midwest. We occasionally get air mass collision rain here. 

Rain categories: 

Fogs and Mists:  

The difference is visibility, to a meteorologist. ‘Fog’ if visibility is below 1 km or 1100 yards; otherwise it’s ‘mist’. Both tend to have very fine small droplets of water, with no or little discernible downward direction––droplets seem to float in the air. 

Meteorology terms for types of fog:

Radiation Fog––cooling of land after sunset, condensation of water vapor produces fog that can be less than 3 ft deep, usually lasts overnight and disperses in morning. Ground fog is a synonym

Advection Fog––moist air passes over a cool surface, such as a warm front passing over a snow pack in the mountains, or upwelling cooled water that cools air and produces fog off our coast. Our summer beach fogs are advection fogs.

Up-slope Fog––forms when winds blow up hill and cool, condensing into fog

Dew Effluvium Ground Fog Miasma Murk Nebula Obscurity Pea-souper Smir Smur Socked In Soup

Spray Steam Visibility Zero   Vapor Wisp

Terms related to a mix of mist/fog plus air pollution (brown-orange from a distance rather than blue or blue-purple):

Film Gloom Grease Haze London Fog Murkiness   Reek Smaze Smog Smoke Smother Vog

Fog or Mists from ocean or other waters:

Brume Fret Hoar Sea Fret

Sea Fog Sea Mist Sea Smoke Steam Fog

Upwelling Fog:  comes off the ocean when upwelling is active

Haar [Har, Hare, Harr] :  comes up from salt water in morning

Walk-off: used in Australia, meaning that there is no visibility at the airport, thus no flying

The foggiest place in the world [> 250 days per year] is the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, where the Gulf Stream meets the Labrador Current. 

Pt Reyes and Cape D both have more than 200 days of fog per year.

Other foggy spots on land include Argentina, Newfoundland, the Po, Arno, and Tiber Valleys in Italy, Ebro Valley in Spain, Hamilton, New Zealand and southern coastal Chile, coastal Namibia, and Nord, Greenland. 

Valley Fog, a type of radiation fog, in central valley CA is Tule Fog. This is CA’s most dangerous driving condition, 100 car pileups are typical

Mountain Mists/Fogs:  Cloud rain, cloud mist, cloud fog

Gloaming:  evening fog that comes down from the hills to lowlands

Cold Fogs where ice forms as fog touches surfaces; driving can be very dangerous under these conditions: 

Freezing Fog Frozen Fog Ice Fog Rime Hoar Frost 

Hail fog––forms immediately after hail falls—we see this occasionally     

Guara Fog, in Chile and Peru, where moisture moving onshore condenses quickly into droplets, forming a transparent mist, drivers must use wipers even though this is nearly invisible. 

Rain:

Droplets condense from water vapor in air, and become heavy enough to fall towards earth. 

Most rain falls in narrow bands, or fronts, as air masses interact, usually cool with warm, or moving upslope over mountains. 

Oreographic rain, such as in our local mountain ranges, results in heavy rain on one side, and a rain shadow on the other. Very pronounced between Forks and Sequim, WA, also between the coast and Puget Sound/Willamette valley, and of course, east of the Cascade Range. 

There is also a down-wind Urban Heat Island Affect, where rain increases downwind of large cities. 

Phantom Rain (4) does not reach the earth, low humidity with high air temperatures, common in dry seasons and in very dry climates, may include:  

Dry Thunderstorms Fall-streak Fall-strike Virga (Spain, Mexico & SW)

Rain under a clear sky (2):

Pineapple Rain: Hawaii, raining when the sky is clear

Light rain has distinct downward fall, reaches earth:

Drizzle Dry Glistening Grizzle Heavy Dew Mauzy Mizzle Skoosh Slick Soft      Spit/Spitting Sprinkle

Intermittent rain terms:

Convective Rain

Showery precipitation falls from convective clouds (cumulonimbus or cumulus congestus) and is intermittent. 

It can transition seamlessly into constant rain, however, leading to confusing forecasts from the weather service of ‘showers’ when said showers are in fact continuous. 

Blurty Cloudburst Flist Flurry Line squall

Rain Squall Showers Sprinkle Squall Sun Shower Volley Intervals between rain events: 

Sun break is a unique PNW term. [Did you know that The Dalles counts a day as sunny if the sun is seen sometime/anytime during the day, no matter how briefly?]

Blue Holes:  those days- to weeks-long breaks in winter rains, when skies are clear and temperatures in the 60s to 70s and higher, from the south coast of Oregon. 

Now, to the wet stuff--Heavy rain terms:  

Blasting Blunking     Bucketing Cataract     Deluge 

Dimpsey Dinger     Dinging doon Drencher     Driving Dumping Firehose       Flood Hailing, as in hailing down

Hard Hawd Hig/Id Horizontal     Kelsher

Lashing Land-lashing Moor Gallop       Pilmer           Plashing

Pounding         Pouring     Sheeting                Sleeting        Soaking       Sopping         Spate            Spitting                 Spate            Spitting         

Strafing         Stoating     Streaming Teeming     Torrential

Rough weather Foul weather

Freshet (heavy rain causes streams to rise in freshets, some use the word to mean the rainfall that creates freshets)

Two Pound Drops: big heavy raindrops

From Scotland, a land well-versed in rain terms:

Dreich (Scottish/Irish:  cold, wet dreary weather)

Blashie (Scottish: windy heavy rain)

Doister (Also spelled deaister, dyster)

Horizontal rain in local use (PNW coast) is often accompanied by hand signal

Strafing rain:  an even more evocative phrase for those storms that sling water/hail/sleet sideways on the coast

Rain Phrases, when one word won't do:

Great Duck/Fish/Frog Weather, as in ‘A Great Day for _____

Grand soft day

Frog Strangler Stump Thumper Heavy wet         Liquid Sunshine 

April Showers Periods of Rain Another wet one 

No end in sight         Never Ending Raining Cats and Dogs     Wet Stuff         Window washer Gully-washer

Pipeline of moisture Rain pipeline

No wipers Intermittent Wipers Constant Wipers Wipers on

Chucking it down Bucketing down         Settle the dust     

Keeping the dust down

The heavens opened Pissing down Coming down

No drying out today Lifting the slates Heavy wet

Raining pitchforks and hammer handles     

Raining grandmothers & walking sticks

To stoat off the ground     

Raining like a cow peeing on a flat rock

Perry (Also spelled parrey, parry, pirrie, pirry):  A sudden, heavy fall of rain; a squall in England, sometimes referred to as ‘half a gale’.

Salamander Rain (late winter rain, air temperature above 40F, when salamanders head for breeding areas)

Summer monsoon (warm, intense summer rain)

Water runs uphill (in heavy wind-driven rain, water flows up several feet into buildings, causing leaks)

Oregon Mist (missed Oregon and hit Washington, or when raining in Oregon–pioneer definition when the entire Pacific Northwest region was called Oregon Territory)

Salmon swim in air (so much atmospheric moisture –‘thick wet air’– that salmon get lost, leave streams and swim in the air through forests, from Northwest tribes)

Condition of those out in rain (7):

Damp Drenched Drookit Saturated Soaked

Wringing wet Wet as a duck

Thunderstorms => rain, hail, lightning, and thunder

When warm and cold air masses collide, convection cells form, rise quickly to over 20,000 ft, and raindrops are carried up and down on currents, cooling to form hail.

Size of hail depends on how many trips each piece makes through this conveyor belt. 

Electric storm Hurly-burly (England) Lightning storm Thundershower         Thundersquall

Storm terms, including multiple storm patterns:  

Many have technical definitions to meteorologists, based on severity of winds along with rain

Cold Storm Cyclone Derecho Gale

Haster Hurricane Monsoon Storm

Tempest         Tropical Storm Typhoon

Warm storm

Barber (Scottish) very cold storm at sea

Gowk storm (Also called gowh's storm): In England, a storm or gale occurring at about the end of April or the beginning of May

Mother of Storms:  Native Alaskan term, mother is said to be ‘visiting’ for several weeks as storm after storm arrives

High degree of Onionization:  successive storm fronts lined up like layers of an onion across the Pacific

Storm terms based on compass directions: Sou’wester, Sou’easter, Nor’wester, Nor’easter and others

Cow-quaker:  In England, a May storm (after the cows have been turned out)

Peesweep storm (Also called peaseweep, peesweip, peewit, teuchit, swallow storm):  An early-spring storm in Scotland and England.

Pineapple Express (atmospheric river, brings warm heavy rain and wind for many days at a time to the West Coast), now see Atmospheric River, use began in 1990s, formal NOAA NWS

ARkStorm (A.R. K = 1,000 years, Storm) as a term was first used in mid 2000s. 

Last ARkStorm on our coast was in 1861/2, rained for 47 days from CA to WA, flooded all river valleys up to and including Columbia River, Sacramento/Central Valley, CA, and LA basin)

Silver thaw:  a PNW term for a Pineapple Express that arrives after a cold spell with low elevation snow and ice. 

First the rain ices the surface, then thaws out the land and melts snow; extensive floods often follow.  Meteorologists call this a ‘rain on snow’ event. 

Outflow — a surge of wind that's produced by storms — may blow ten to fifty miles ahead of  storm fronts, preceding the rain front.

From England: “Your words for rain,” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18461189 

1. Not Raining

Outdoor furniture is erected cautiously in gardens and on balconies. Light to moderate rummaging takes places in rucksacks for cagoules [heavy, hooded rain jackets] and pac-a-macs [lightweight rain gear].

2. Mizzling

Women on way to hairdressing appointments proceed apprehensively without umbrellas.

3. Grizzerable

Overseas players on county cricket teams are surprised to discover that they're required to continue playing.

4. Woodfiddly Rain Outdoor furniture is brought back indoors. Lips are pursed.

5. Mawky

Aggressive hawkers selling fold-up umbrellas appear outside railway stations and shopping centres. Women on way back from hairdressers form impatient queue.

6. Tippling Down

Garden furniture is returned to garden centres in hope of getting money back.

7. Luttering Down

Fingers drummed on indoor furniture. Eyes rolled. Tuts tutted

8. Plothering Down

Irritating displays of supposedly barbecue-friendly foods are removed from the entrance areas of supermarkets.

9. Pishpotikle Weather

Rain intensifies. Women with newly done hair find aggressive hawkers have disappeared when they take defective umbrellas back in search of a refund.

10. Raining Like a Cow Relieving Itself  

11. Raining Stair-rods

Any garden furniture that is not taken indoors, floats away. Reporters on 24-hour news channels began using the word ‘torrential’ and holding their hands out with their palms upturned.

12. Siling Down

Hardy British holidaymakers are finally driven from beach at Herne Bay [SE England, on coast of Thames Estuary]. Garden furniture begins appearing on eBay. 

And see: 

http://www.japan-talk.com/jt/new/why-Japanese-has-50-words-for-rain

http://www.weatheronline.co.uk/reports/wxfacts/British-Weather-Terms.htm