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....

More Temperature Records

Now this is getting darn suspicious... Even though this summer has had cooler than normal high temperatures, we broke more "high low" temperature records yesterday and today. That makes 6 such records since June, and 8 this year. Yesterday's low of 62 surpassed the previous record of 61 (1978), and today's low of 61 broke the previous record of 60 (1977).

This puts another notch in the belt for possible global warming. 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). Of course, a few records here locally don't make a global trend. Stay tuned...

Over 2 Million Served

2 million website "views" served, that is. Sometime this weekend the Hood River Weather site passed that particular cybermark. It has taken 9 years to reach 2 million views; the site currently gets about 1500 views daily, which would bring the next million views in about 2 years. Sooner if you tell 10 of your friends about the site...

I was thinking of having some sort of celebration, perhaps giving away 2 million dollars to the 2 millionth site viewer. But then, people would come to expect that sort of thing every time we hit another million mark. So I decided to pretty much ignore it. Except for this blog post.

Rain overnight! 0.13 inches at our house, enough to settle the summer dust and not have to water for a day or so. More typical summer weather returns this coming week (we can only hope).

Comet Dust, Dead Ahead

Right on schedule, the annual Perseid meteor shower peaks on Monday morning, August 13th. The best viewing will be from midnight to 4 am, so a Sunday afternoon/evening nap is definitely justified. This year's cosmic fireworks show should be especially good, since the moon won't be in the sky at the time. You can expect to see 1 to 2 meteors a minute, especially if you are in an area away from city lights and you follow these suggestions.

The Perseid shower occurs every August as the Earth plows through the debris field left by comet Swift-Tuttle. Most of the material is the size of a grain of sand, and since it impacts the atmosphere at a brisk 37 miles per second, it burns up quickly.

No Rain Whatsoever

Here's one for all you Hood River weather trivia fans out there. What is the only day of the calendar year on which no measurable rainfall has ever been recorded?

That's right, it's August 10th. Lucky guess...

Granted, the official records for Hood River only go back to 1928. But still, having only one day out of the historical year that hasn't had any rain since before 1928 is kind of cool, especially if you are into weather records and such.

Fire In The Hood!

The west side of Hood River dodged a potentially major bullet yesterday afternoon. A brush fire, whipped along by winds averaging 20 to 25 mph, advanced quickly towards the subdivision bounded by 30th Street, May Street, Cascade Ave, and Rand Road. This also happens to be the neighborhood in which we (and our weather station) live.

Firefighters were able to stop the blaze just short of the houses, but not before somewhere around 50 homes were evacuated. We are about 2 streets south of the evacuation zone, but with smoke and ash flying all around, we had started the process of moving some items into our vehicles just in case.

Way too much excitment (tinged with uncertainty, adrenaline, and a touch of fear) for a Saturday afternoon.

Many thanks go out to all the firefighters and other personnel involved in containing this fire.