Karl's Weather Discussions

Well the eclipse is over and it was definitely a wondrous experience. I got to experience less than a minute of totality from the hills south of Maupin. The temperature drop, the twilight look…and finally the sudden darkening of the sky. Anyway. We have a big hot ridgy pattern developing right now, and is expected to stick around for the majority of the next 14 days. Today’s high was 95 after a morning low of 55, and as of 10pm…

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I REALLY was hoping I wouldn’t have to write this blog, and I’m not going to put a lot of time/effort into this one. Let’s just keep it short: the heatwave for early August has gone from merely “mentionable” to downright historic, in just about 72 hours. Also remarkable for the middle of summer? It could actually get hotter in Portland and Salem, than it does in The Dalles! That sometimes happens in Fall (September and October) as well as…

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posted nearly 3 weeks ago, saying that it was “vacation time” for me. True to form, basically NOTHING has happened with the weather since then. July has turned into one big snooze-fest: no triple-digit temps, no T-storms, but no cool patterns either. We’ve managed to get two minor ‘heat events’ this month, one on the 5th-6th and another for the 22nd through 25th. Both were in the upper 90s. Of course, when the average high temp in late July is…

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Given how “boringly beautiful” the weather is slated to be for the next couple weeks, I’m probably going to focus less on thinking about it and more on actually enjoying it.  (At least on the days when I’m not working all day!) I probably won’t be back for a few weeks, unless:  We get a BIG heatwave with temps at least up to 105-ish for a couple days A significant monsoon/thunderstorm pattern develops on the models We get some kind…

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Well…The Dalles and Eastern Oregon just endured their second hot spell / heatwave of the 2017 summer season. The LATE SPRING HEATWAVE over Memorial Day Weekend doesn’t count in this case. Here in town, or at least at the airport, our high temp yesterday was 98 and today was 99. That’s not quite as hot as we got a couple weeks ago. HOWEVER…and this is the critical part… our nighttime temps this time around are at least 10-15 degrees warmer…

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It’s Friday and the first major heat event of the season, is on for the Pacific Northwest. The last few days the Desert Southwest has been suffering from record-setting heat, with temps of 120 degrees F or hotter in a few places and quite a few all-time records. Luckily we will only get a “glancing blow” of hot air in the PNW this time around, not a week-long stretch of temps 95-110. Furthermore, the heat will be most ‘impressive’ over…

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At 9:24pm Pacific Daylight Time tonight, the Sun will reach its northernmost point of the ecliptic – the crest of the “seasonal sine wave.” Beginning tomorrow, and continuing through December, the amount of solar energy entering earth’s Northern Hemisphere will begin to decrease. The change will be almost negligible for the next few weeks, but by August we’ll be able to notice the darkness of night encroaching on our world once more. Depending on your definition of the seasons, it’s…

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Hard to believe that just two weeks ago, we were talking about 99-degree heat over Memorial Day Weekend. A deep marine layer and “June Gloom” has settled in over the Pacific Northwest. Two days ago there was snow at Crater Lake as a chilly low-pressure moved through southern Oregon. That opened the door to a heavy surge of west wind yesterday, as the low exited to the east. The peak gust was 47 mph at the airport in Dallesport –…

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