I’ve been gone for awhile–on a family vacation to Hawaii. We had beautiful (and hot) weather while visiting Hapuna Beach on the Big Island.
In this photo (left to right): my brother in law, teaching our oldest son to boogie board, then my youngest son that I was teaching–and finally me on the far right.
Hawaii was hot. And then I came home to this…
Yes, a lovely downpour to greet me after leaving PDX. A surprise? Not really.
But there was a surprise waiting for me in the forecast charts: I had left Hawaii and was now headed for the Northwest ‘Frying Pan’ — our first heatwave of 2013! We’re all headed there…except for those at the coast.
Portland-Vancouver Heatwave Runs From Friday June 28 – Wednesday July 3rd, 2013
At least that’s the schedule for now! The hottest days appear to be Monday and Tuesday when many of us in the I-5 Corridor will be 95 degrees or hotter. And many places in central and eastern Oregon will be 100-105 degrees!
Again, Monday & Tuesday look like they will be the hottest. 94-100 Willamette Valley. 100-105 Redmond, The Dalles, Pendleton. 90s Seattle. 100-105 Boise & Spokane. And up north in Vancouver B.C. a nice 85 degrees or so.
Here are some important ‘highlights’ of our heatwave. Bottom line: if you do not have a/c at your place…make friends with someone who does. Or head to the coast…where highs will be 65 to 75 degrees with a lot more in the way of clouds!
Every year, during a heat wave, we do stories on pets, usually dogs, that have collapsed and sometimes even died in the heat. This breaks my heart. We’re just not used to this kind of weather and neither are our four legged friends. Please remind other pet owners about this…sometimes we just forget how unusual this heat is for their furry little bodies.
We’re having some of the most intense sunshine of the entire year right now. Throw in clear skies (much of the next week) and it puts Portland at a ’10’ on the UV-Index scale. We are rarely subject to that. So just know that you will burn faster during this stretch than much of the time this summer. Work in the garden too long one day and you might be colored like a strawberry yourself!
And finally, because the air will remain unusually humid, the heat may be able to power up some thunderstorms from time to time during the coming week. This is our KOIN Rain Forecast map for Friday evening June 28th. But this scenario could play out anytime over the next few days. So keep an eye on the skies–especially if you’re hiking or camping or out on some mountain lake somewhere.
Well, here we go. This year, Portland’s summer will actually start BEFORE July 5th.
The northwest forecast for a drier and hotter than average summer appears to be coming true–for now.
Welcome back, Bruce! I was beginning to wonder what happened to you. Anyway, I expect 85F here, or maybe more in the coming days, but today we’re still expecting a few showers around the area. July 1st is our national holiday, and usually it’s cool and cloudy, but this one apparently won’t be. I think i’ll head to the beach!
Roland–good to be back. Let me know how your temperatures work out. Exciting that the national holiday will be nice and warm. Believe me, we know how rare it is for holidays to be nice in Portland, too. We’re all in this northwest weather game together!
Talk to you later,
Bruce