Weather, Climate, and Other Science Topics
With our record dry summer and the hottest August on record for many places around the Pacific Northwest, we’ve inevitably had an incredibly active fire season and the smokiest summer I can ever remember seeing west of the Cascade Crest. The latest major blaze – the Eagle Creek Fire – came uncomfortably close to home, […]
It’s not much, and not everybody will get wet. But for the first time nearly two months, rain is in the forecast for parts of the Pacific Northwest! The summer of 2017 has been extraordinarily dry for the Pacific Northwest. Following a soaker on June 15 that dropped 0.42 inches at Portland and 1.05 inches at […]
Everything seemed right for record high temperatures at Portland. We had offshore winds to prevent any cooling from the Pacific Ocean and a massive ridge overhead with insanely warm temperatures aloft. But with extreme heat comes extreme fire danger, and fires have erupted over the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia over the past few days. […]
This past Sunday, I headed up to Hidden Valley Camp, an old-school summer camp in the Cascade foothills of Snohomish County, WA for “Visitor’s Day,” a day where families of campers and other visitors can visit the camp and interact with campers and staff. I’m a longtime former HVC camper, camper-leader, and staff member (baker […]
It’s been a boring past few weeks for Pacific Northwest weather bloggers. Portland, Seattle, and many other places around the Pacific Northwest have now gone a month without any measurable precipitation. For much of the past month, a large ridge of high pressure has been plopped right over us, shunting the storm track to the […]
The first major heat wave of the year is living up to the hype! Portland and Salem hit 98 and 101 respectively yesterday, and today, they simply switched highs. According to Mike Newman (a fellow weather buff from the Portland area), today’s high of 101 at the Portland Int’l Airport was just 1 degree below […]
By now, I’m sure most of you have heard about the record heat in California and the Desert Southwest. On Sunday, San Francisco obliterated its previous heat record of 86 degrees with an unbelievable 97-degree high, and yesterday, Palm Springs reached an egg-frying 122 degrees! Phoenix even had to cancel nearly 50 flights yesterday due […]
What a beautiful day it is today! With a strong ridge of high pressure centered just off our coast, we have bluebird skies, light winds, and very warm temperatures, with many places around the Portland metro area making it into the 80s! This ridge will move right over us for Memorial Day weekend, meaning our […]
After such a cold, snowy winter and the strongest April windstorm in the Portland metro area since April 14, 1957, I’m sure many of you will be relieved to hear that tomorrow is shaping up to be the warmest day of the year! It’s a far cry from the mutant heat wave we saw last […]
Good morning everybody! Apologies for the delay in forecasts, blog posts, and pictures recently! Today and Friday may very well be “Summer’s Last Hurrah.” Sure, we might have a few small “yays” in September, but these two days look like they’ll be the hottest days for the next nine months. We’ve got a thermal trough off the […]
