Near 100 Today

8am Sunday

Just a quick note to let you know today looks to be a scorcher again, possibly the hottest day of the year in Portland.  For the first time in 3 days light easterly “offshore” wind flow has developed this morning through the Gorge.  That plus a very warm/hot atmosphere overhead and full sunshine means warmer temps than the low 90s from Saturday.  PDX officially hit 93 yesterday.

Today should be around 5 degrees warmer, possibly 7.  Of course that opens up the possibility that we hit 100 degrees for the first time this season.  Here is our morning forecast

850mb temps are not as hot as I’d like to see for PDX hitting 100, currently around +20 to +21 over Salem.  It’s a stretch to get that hot down here at the surface with those temps up above.  But considering the sudden surge of heat Thursday with the offshore wind (97 at PDX and 99 at Troutdale), temps around 100 seem reasonable again today.  It sure seems easier to get hot in the Willamette Valley & Metro nowadays doesn’t it?

As I mentioned the last day I worked (Tuesday) we are in this very warm/hot stretch for quite awhile.  By the time we get a major marine push Tuesday night, we will have gone through a 7 day stretch with highs 89 or higher.  All models are in very good agreement we get a nice cool down Thursday/Friday, then warming again (back to hot) for next weekend.  Note both the GFS and ECMWF meteograms from last night’s ensemble runs.  This is for Salem, but Portland is similar:

 

It’s going to end up as another blazing hot July; Portland, Salem, & Redmond are all running 3 degrees or more above average for the month at the halfway point today.  Note the 850mb ensemble chart from the ECMWF shows upper-air temps above average the rest of the month.

I’m on vacation this week, looking for a cool place…stay cool!

Chief Meteorologist Mark Nelsen