Greetings! It’s been months since I posted, but I wanted to give an update.

First of all, I’m leaving for central Europe this Wednesday, July 17! I’ll be visiting Iceland, Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia and Italy over a four-week period. It’s been very stressful putting together all the moving parts from a solo, unguided tour across a dozen-plus cities, but the leg work is all but done now. It’s packing time! I’ll try to post at least one brief update while I’m over there.

As for those of you staying in the Pacific Northwest this summer? It’s been a hot one so far and expected to remain warmer than normal for the next 7-10 days, though probably no more extreme heat coming up soon. The first 12 days of July are running 8.1°F above normal for PDX, and 9.4° above normal for Salem. Also about 7-8 degrees hotter than normal for east side locations.

We had a 7-day stretch of 90s from July 4-10 in Portland, including 5 record hot days the 5th through the 9th: 99, 99, 100, 102, 104. This definitely isn’t an “S tier” heatwave like June 2021 or July 2015, but it has still been pretty rough.

There has been no dramatic cooldown after the heat; just a couple days in the 80s and then we were back in the low 90s this weekend. Temps are expected to remain in the upper 80s to mid 90s for the coming week. Unless something changes dramatically in the last 10 days of the month, we’re probably looking at a record hot July when all is said and done – or at least very close. One saving grace may be the nighttime temps, which are running slightly cooler than similarly warm weather in the past 2 summers.

The valleys will remain plenty warm for “hot” summer activities like water recreation, while the coastline should stay in the refreshing 60s and 70s.

Be safe, stay hydrated, and have a memorable summer!

Karl