Heat Wave
Today is the first day of a 3 to 4 day heat wave in Hood River. Typically, the west wind dies down, gentle easterly breezes come and go, daytime temps soar, and nightly temps drop to a comfortable 60-70 degrees.
Today's high of 100 didn't break a record, but tomorrow's record high of 101 and Saturday's record of 100 are within reach. If this doesn't kick this year's late-ripening tomatoes, peppers, and corn into high gear, nothing will.
Not a comment on the heat wave, but I've noticed several large dust clouds appearing the last couple of days on Mt. St. Helens (visible on the volcanocam). Have you come across any comments about these, are they unusual, or are they just common shifts in the ash layers? I would imagine that stuff is pretty dry and light this time of year.
ReplyDeleteGood observation; I hadn't noticed that. If you click on the volcanocam picture, it will take you to the Mt St Helens site. At the bottom of that site, click on the News Blog link. There, they mention:
ReplyDelete"Views of Mount St. Helens should be picture perfect the next several days as the high pressure system dominates the area. You may see volcanic dust carried aloft by the swirling winds within the crater."
It looks like nearly all the snow is gone from the mountain, or maybe what's left is covered with dust. The east winds (which are few and far between in the summer), might be especially good at stiring up any dust that hasn't been blown away by the normally strong west winds? Just a guess.