August 2009 Revisited

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

The temperature was 3.9 degrees warmer than long term averages, and 0.6 degrees warmer than more recent averages (2000-2008). There was 0.12" of rain, compared to an average August precipitation of 0.37". The wind speed was higher than average.

August continued the warm, dry trend of June and July. The first 3 days were above 90°, winding down from the intense heat wave of late July. From there, temperatures dipped considerably below normal for a couple of weeks. On August 11th, rain came (briefly) back after a 66 day dry spell. Starting August 17, a short 3 day heat wave sent the temperature soaring to 104° (at my station). Then, a cool down, followed by a one day blast of 98° on Aug 27. Wind sports enthusiasts had an excellent month, with winds on the river officially reaching "nuclear" levels on quite a few days.

There were 2 local weather records set in August. On the 12th, we received 0.04" of rain, and on the 19th, the official high temperature reached 101°.

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)	104	46	70.5	66.6
Wind (mph)	33		5.0	4.3
Rainfall (in)	0.09		0.12 (total)	0.37