In The Summertime

So, in the cold, gray, inversiony days of winter, you wanted summer to get here, right? Warm, gloriously sunny days? Catching some rays while enjoying outdoor activities? Maybe even a nice little heat wave for the icing on the cake?

OK, we've had all that, including the heat wave, and the icing on the summer cake melted away days ago. We are currently in one of the most persistent and humid heat waves to hit the Pacific Northwest in a long, long time.

Temperatures hit the low 90's on July 25th, and haven't looked back since. At my weather station, the last 4 consecutive days have exceeded 100 degrees, maxing out at 107 on Tuesday July 28th. Today's temperature has moderated a bit under the influence of west winds and a touch of marine air, but temperatures are expected to go up again over the weekend.

And, since (apparently) one of the reasons I was put here on Earth is to point out when Hood River weather records are broken (or, in this case, tied), here goes:

• Tuesday, July 28, the high temperature of 104 broke the old record of 103 (2005).

• Wednesday, July 29, the "high low" temperature of 69 tied the record set in 1998.

• Friday, July 31, the "high low" temperature of 69 broke the old record of 65 in 2000.

As I've mentioned previously, these records are based not on my own station's data, which would have produced more records, but on the MCAREC automated surrogate station HOXO. I'd like to use MCAREC's data directly, since the historical database comes from there, but the data is not easy to come by on a timely basis. Not their fault; software and other issues currently hinder timely online availability of data. I appreciate "doc" in the chat room bringing me up to speed on where that stands, and the fact that MCAREC is managed by NOAA and HOXO is managed by BLM. But, according to NOAA, the two stations' data correlate nicely, so for now I'll use the automated station. And the folks at MCAREC can correct me if necessary.

Stay cool, the best you can. And enjoy all the good things summer has to offer!

June 2009 Revisited

Compared to historical averages, June in Hood River was warmer, drier, and slightly windier.

The temperature was 3.9 degrees warmer than long term averages, and 1.8 degrees warmer than more recent averages (2000-2008). This was the warmest June since 2003. Precipitation was only 0.10" against a long term average of 0.80". The wind speed was slightly higher than average.

This was definitely not a repeat of last year's chilly "June-uary", which was 5 degrees cooler than this June. All in all, it was a very pleasant month, if a bit on the dry side. We were taunted and teased by approaching thunderstorms several times, but the storm cells had this annoying habit of missing us and heading for points south, north and west. Anywhere but here. :(

There was 1 local weather record set in June. The low temperature of 61 degrees on the 18th exceeded the old "high low" record for the date (60 degrees in 1961)

The data below is from my home weather station. To view its monthly summary and graphs at Weather Underground, click here.

The "historical average" numbers for temperature and rainfall are from the Hood River MCAREC data. Historical wind average is from my station's 2000 to 2008 data. Note that average wind speeds include all 24 hours of the day and night, which is why they are way lower than daytime peak winds. In addition, the wind speed at this station is considerably lower than on the Columbia River.

	High	Low	Average	Historical Average
Temperature (F)	90	43	65.8	61.9
Wind (mph)	30		4.9	4.7
Rainfall (in)	0.10		0.05 (total)	0.80