Perfect

Well, close enough to perfect. Since Saturday, the highs have been 80 to 90 with light winds. The west wind picked up a bit yesterday and today, and the forecast is for slightly cooler days through the weekend. There is a lot to be said for September and October weather here. West wind dies down, warm days, cool nights....

Speaking of cooler nights, September 13 is the earliest day in the late summer that the temperature has dropped below freezing. On Sept 13, 1970, the low temp hit 30 degrees. There is no danger of this record being broken this year. The average first frost day in the town of Hood River is October 20, but is earlier the higher one goes up in elevation in the valley.

And speaking of temperature records, the low of 62 degrees this morning was 2 degrees warmer than the previous record high low of 60 in 1970. Chalk up another one for warmer nights...

August Revisited

August was an above average month for both temperature and rainfall. The average temperature was 2.5 degrees above normal, mostly due to warmer nights. Wind speeds were average for the month, with west winds predominate.

There was one record set during August, the "high low" temperature of 64 on August 31.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average	Variance
Temperature (F)	101.7	45.2	69.2	66.7	2.5
Wind (mph)	31		4.4	4.4	0.0
Rainfall (in)	0.36		0.49	0.39	0.10
Barometric (in Hg)	30.11	29.71	29.91

Another Warm Morning

Yesterday's low of 63 degrees set another "high low" record for the date. The previous highest low temperature for September 4th was 59 degrees in 1992.

August Weather Summary

I'm thinking it might be useful to do a monthly post summarizing the previous month's weather data. The easiest, quickest way for me to do that is to copy and paste from the Weather Underground site where our weather station data is archived. Let me know what you think of this idea; it might work better if I create a separate "history" link off of the Hood River weather site. Or maybe I will do both.

Putting it in this blog gives me the option of making interesting and insightful comments on what the weather was like. Or, more likely, boring, inane, and embarrassing comments. So here goes:

	High:	Low:	Average:
Temperature:	101.7 °F	45.2 °F	69.2 °F
Dew Point:	62.4 °F	34.7 °F	52.1 °F
Humidity:	96.0%	12.0%	58.2%
Wind Speed:	28.0mph from the WSW	-	4.4mph
Wind Gust:	31.0mph from the WSW	-	-
Wind:	-	-	West
Pressure:	30.11in	29.71in
Precipitation:	0.49in

Yet Again

This morning's low of 64 was 1 degree warmer than the previous record "high low" of 63 set in 1944. This is the 7th such record this year. I can't say for sure that this is a record year for numbers of record "high lows", but it sure seems impressive.

Although certainly not proof of global warming, it's pointing in that direction. As the climate warms, predications indicate that night time lows will trend warmer, but daytime highs won't be affected so much (at least initially).

So will this translate into later "first frost" dates in the Fall and earlier "last frost" dates in the Spring, thereby extending the growing season? I wouldn't really mind that, but I'm sure there are negative consequences also, such as less snowpack, less water supply, and more problems with insect pests.

It's always something....