**Don Tucker, who lives two miles north of Yachats, has been recording rainfall and other weather data for 19 years — as this chart of his measurements shows.**

Yes, April was dry, the first week of May was even drier and rainfall totals on the coast are so far running far behind last year’s skimpy rain totals.

Jim Adler, who lives three miles up the Yachats River valley, measured 5.4 inches of rain in April, almost three inches below his 17-year average for the month. Adler’s total for the year is 31.71 inches of rain, compared with a four-month average over 17 years of 45.74 inches of rain.

“So we’re down about 30 percent for the year,” he said.

Bob Williams, who lives eight miles up the Yachats River valley, recorded 6.97 inches of rain in April and has 39.28 inches for the year. His average April rainfall over seven years is 8.75 inches.

Don Tucker, who lives two miles north of Yachats, recorded 4.54 inches of rain in April and 26.2 inches for the first four months of 2026. Tucker’s April total is 1.5 inches below his 19-year average for the month and his year-to-date total is 6.5 inches below his average.

Julie Bailey, who lives on Horizon Hill overlooking downtown Yachats, measured 4.6 inches of rain in April bringing her year-to-date total to 26.13 inches – eight inches lower than her total for this time last year and 18 inches lower than her total through April 2024.

Adam Altson, who lives along Ocean View Drive in Yachats, measured 3.52 inches of rain in April and has 20.63 inches for the year. “That’s about 2 inches below my April average and my lowest year-to-date total with nine years of records,” he said.

Neal Myers, who lives in the Tidewater area along the Alsea River east of Waldport, measured 5.43 inches of rain in April – rain fell there on 11 days — and has 27.94 inches of rain so far in 2026.

Herb Fredrickson, who lives on the eastern edge of Newport, recorded 3.9 inches of rain in April but 1.10 inches on April 2 and 2.09 inches on April 15. “That’s 28 days in April with only 0.71″ of rain,” he said.

Weather notes:

Williams: April rainfall has varied quite a bit over the past eight years from two inches in 2021 to 14.83 inches in 2022.
Bailey: Roses blooming abundantly; earliest that I can recall. Barely any rabbits this spring — coyotes maybe.