goodbye November

So we move on to December. 

Farewell November, we won't miss you much - a contentious election filled with mob-inciting rhetoric and false claims, and gruesome tallies worldwide as Covid-19 tightens its grip. Promising vaccines and a more open government hold promise for the future, but the present realities are harsh. A lot of people traveled for the Thanksgiving holiday, and we'll pay for that soon - especially with many regions reaching nearing hospital capacity for cases of any sort. Many speak of field hospitals to ease overcrowding, but that does not magically produce healthcare workers to staff those tents.

The chart here shows the Washington state Dept. of Health weekly numbers for our county; circles show the under-40 case count and the green dash is for age 40+. Yes the trend is down today, but next week could easily rebound since the most recent numbers likely are partly due to holiday recordkeeping. My mom is back in the protective cocoon of assisted-living lockdown, yet they had an active Covid case last week even so. Our holiday gathering was brought to us by internet conference, nice to have but a poor alternative to the typical Thanksgiving.

As to weather, we nearly had a normal November. It's the wettest month using our 30-year average but the last two were quite dry, and needed large doses later in the season to catch up. This time we received over 10 inches and hit 94% of average, so the half-inch deficit is nearly painless. December begins with a dry week though, and as our second-wettest month that could hurt. The la Nina conditions in the Pacific often show up closer to mid-winter with cool and wet conditions, so no alarm bells just yet. Hard to ring 'jingle bells' either this year though.

At least two vaccines may begin distribution in December, signaling a change in circumstance. Fingers crossed, and foreheads too, as we seek to pull out from these darkest days of Covid as well as approach the solstice. Hang in there, everyone.