Well, weather watchers are tracking an approaching storm that might (or might not) bring damaging winds to our area. We’ll see how that shakes out.

And today we’ll hear a Ship Report holiday tradition: “Coastal Christmas,” a retelling of the story of The Night Before Christmas, coastal- style. It’s a book written by Long Beach Peninsula author Lynette Rae McAdams, illustrated by local artist Sally Lackaff.

In this updated telling of the age-old tale: Santa is saved by the US Coast Guard after his sleigh ends up in the water, essentially saving Christmas. And Santa gets to head home to the North Pole with Dungeness Crab for Mrs. Santa.

Happy Christmas to all!

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Today we’ll talk about the opening at the end of this month of the 2025-26 Dungeness crab fishery in our local area. And hear an excerpt from a 2016 interview I did with a commercial crabber. His name is John Corbin, and he’ll tell us a bit about the process of catching and harvesting Dungeness.

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The fire hose of rain is aimed south of us in Clatsop County this time, but meteorologists predict we are looking at about and inch and half  in Astoria, and 3 inches or more Tillamook and points south.

The big deal right now is a matter of time, rain and its long term effect on soils. It’s been raining for awhile now and we are seeing the effects of saturated soils on trees, roadbeds and power lines. I read an interesting piece about how the more soaked the ground gets, the less wind it takes to know down a tree. And we are seeing older roadbeds collapse and landslides claim land and dover roads. So be careful out there – things in the landscape may not be the way you last saw them when you next venture out.

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We’ve got some rowdy weather on the Columbia River Bar today and it may cause ships to be delayed until the weather’s better. We’ll take a look at how that sort of thing works and what you can expect.

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We seem to be in an atmospheric river phase at the moment: we’ll talk about what to expect today from a maritime perspective.

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We’ll be looking at more atmospheric river activity this week. We’ll take a look at what to expect. The short answer: with already saturated soils in our region, be prepared for power outages, landslides and downed trees. We’ll also take a look at today’s ship schedule.

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Today we’ll take a look at some really crazy rainfall totals from this week’s storm, and a look at what’s next as next week unfolds. The short answer: more rain.

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We haven’t seen the last of atmospheric river activity this month, according to the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center. We’ll take a look at the long range forecast for what could shape up to be a very wet rest of December, and January.

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Yesterday we got pounded with heavy rain and wind as an atmospheric river lumbered its way across our region. We’ll take a look at the effects of all that rain so far, as rains continue today.

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If you have a trailerable recreational boat registered in Oregon, consider bringing your boat down to the Clatsop County Sheriff’s Office Marine Patrol Winter Boater Safety Inspection Station event later this month. It’s happening Saturday, December 27 from 10 to 2, right across from Englund Marine at the Port of Astoria, and get your 2026 Oregon Boater Safety Inspection sticker.

You’ll need an up to date registration and some safety gear to qualify. It’s not only the law, it’s good safety stewardship for your vessel, the people you take on board, and any rescue personnel who might have to assist you in an emergency.

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