Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
Back in June, most extended forecasts were calling for near or slightly cooler-than-average temperatures for the Pacific Northwest with near or slightly below-average precipitation. It was a reasonable forecast; after all, we had just gone through one of the wettest and coolest springs on record, and a moderate La Nina was expected to persist through […]
Summer 2022 is one that Pacific Northwest seasonal forecasters would like to have back. On the heels of a very wet and cool spring, and with La Nina conditions persisting in the Tropical Pacific, forecasters favored near or slightly below-average temperatures this summer. Instead, we’ve had well-above-average temperatures ever since late June, with an astonishing […]
7am Sunday As you’ve probably heard by now, the Pacific Northwest will experience a significant, prolonged heat wave this week. Excessive Heat Watches are currently in effect for the Willamette Valley, Northeast Oregon, and nearly all of Central/Eastern Washington, and the hot weather is expected to persist throughout the week before a very gradual cooling […]
11 pm Saturday After the coldest spring on record for portions of the Pacific Northwest, true summertime warmth has finally arrived! Seattle reached 77 Friday and 86 today, and Portland hit 84 Friday and 93 today – both under bright sunny skies. And even hotter weather is expected Sunday and Monday, with triple digit temperatures […]
A dangerous heat wave will impact the Pacific Northwest this week. It won’t be anywhere near as strong as the “Heat Dome” of June 26-28, but it will still bring record highs to large portions of the Pacific NW Wednesday – Friday, with record highs likely holding on for the inland Pacific NW on Saturday. […]
“Unprecedented” is an overused meteorological buzzword, but in the case of the June 2021 Pacific Northwest Heatwave, it is absolutely warranted. This heatwave shattered meteorologist’s preconceptions of what the upper-limit to temperatures is in the Willamette Valley and Pacific NW as a whole. The map of high temperatures recorded on Monday 6/28 defies superlatives. My […]
It was hot Sunday and today! My brother came down to Portland for the weekend, and yesterday, we went cliff diving at High Rocks Park on the Clackamas River. There were some pretty acrobatic divers jumping off the rocks, and there were several lifeguards and an ambulance van on standby in case there were any […]
11:00 pm Monday What a shift in weather we’ve seen over the last week! In my last blog on 5/31, I was talking about the potential for record heat in Portland on Tuesday, 6/1. Portland indeed set a record that day, hitting 95 and breaking the record of 94 set back in 1970. Perhaps even […]
It was toasty this Memorial Day weekend! Portland hit 82 on Saturday, 84 on Sunday, and 88 today, According to chief KPTV meteorologist Mark Nelsen, this was the warmest Memorial Day weekend by average high temperature since 1992, which had an average high of 86 degrees over the three days and a peak of 93 […]
The warmest temperatures of the year are on tap for this weekend into early next week, and we’ll have super low tides to go along with the hot weather. This post ended up being kinda (dare I say, unnecessarily?) long, so here’s a quick summary. Expect a warming trend from now through Tuesday for the […]
