I sincerely hope you are all safe during this mother of all heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest!  Today is the third consecutive day that PDX will set an all-time record high temperature. Saturday we hit 108 ⁰ F, which beat the record of 107 from August 1981 and July 1965.  I was in town all day and it was truly miserable, especially given that dewpoints were in the mid to upper 60s for most of the evening and night.

Then yesterday Sunday, Portland blew that new record up by 4 degrees, with a high of 112!  Thankfully I wasn’t around to experience it.  But those who were had to deal with overheated apartments and MAX cancelations. Luckily the power hasn’t gone out!  Here are the shocking numbers from yesterday, courtesy of NWS Portland Twitter:

Here is another summary of the all time record high temperatures either tied or set across northwest Oregon and southwest Washington earlier today Sunday June 27th. #pdxtst #orwx #wawx pic.twitter.com/smEXGxhf6C

— NWS Portland (@NWSPortland) June 28, 2021

I was along the central and northern Oregon coast from 9am to 7pm yesterday. Pacific City had a refreshing 70-degree beachfront with ocean water in the mid 50s.  However, in the inner estuaries and coastal valleys a couple miles inland (such as Cloverdale and Hebo), temps were in the 90s at the same time!  A similar dynamic was in force during the early afternoon near Oceanside and Tillamook; 70s on the beaches but 90s as soon as you went behind a hill.

The north coast saw hotter temperatures closer to the beach.  Manzanita had beachfront temps in the 80s and water temps in the low 60s…that’s more like SoCal than Oregon. And about 90 degrees just a few blocks off the beach.  But on the nearby Neahkahnie bluffs it must have been at least 100 degrees in the evening!  I’ve never felt such heat while viewing ocean water before.

TODAY IS THE FINAL DAY OF THE HEATWAVE FOR WESTERN OREGON. I will post just one image to show why:

Marine air will surge into the southern Willamette Valley during the day today, taking the edge off the heat in Eugene and Corvallis. But Portland will be under the influence of east wind and a historic +30C airmass until about 7pm tonight!  That means another record-shattering day in the 113-116 range.

Fortunately, once the cool air arrives this evening, it REALLY arrives. Temps should plummet 30 degrees or more in a couple hours, as a gusty south wind sweeps the hot air out of Portland.  I can’t wait to open my windows after work tonight!  Monday will only be in the low 90s across the metro.

I wish I could elaborate more on the next week’s pattern (still quite hot but more reasonable), but it’s too hot right now and I need to cool off myself!  In any case, the heatwave from hell will be over in 12 hours, for everyone west of the Cascades. -Karl