July 2018 Weather in the Pacific Northwest

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I was down in Northern California most of the weekend. Interesting microclimates down there. Weed, CA is just a few miles from the town of Mt. Shasta and at similar elevations, but their climates are radically different. Weed is quite arid, while Mt. Shasta has a much wetter climate being on the SW side of the mountain as opposed to weed which is NW.

 

It was also very smokey in weed, but just south the smoke cleared. Home prices, something I always check, were very cheap in the Weed area (You would not want to live there.), and about what they are around here at Mt. Shasta. Here area  few pics...

 

 

Mt. Shasta from the town of Mt. Shasta.

Lake Siskyou 

 

 

Smokey haze around the base of Shasta. The smoke was from the wildfires in SW Oregon. 

[Jesse]

Sweden has seen record breaking heat, drought, and fires.

Sounds like they are having a nice summer too.

[Jesse]

https://www.thelocal.se/20180723/sweden-heatwave-hottest-july-in-at-least-260-years

[SilverFallsAndrew]

https://www.thelocal.se/20180723/sweden-heatwave-hottest-july-in-at-least-260-years

 

We're just like Sweden!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Noticed Eugene's only running a +0.8 departure through yesterday... Basically their average low on the month is a little over 10 degrees cooler than PDX. That UHI makes a difference...

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Noticed Eugene's only running a +0.8 departure through yesterday... Basically their average low on the month is a little over 10 degrees cooler than PDX. That UHI makes a difference...

 

Average High so far this month...

 

PDX: 85.0

EUG: 84.7

 

Average Low so far this month...

 

PDX: 59.6

EUG: 49.4

[ShawniganLake]

Is it too early to start an early August heat wave contest?

[Jesse]

Is it too early to start an early August heat wave contest?

[Geos]

Is it too early to start an early August heat wave contest?

Maybe a slight stretch since August is 8 days away but if you really think one will happen...

 

^Right now not looking likely according to that 850 mb plot.

[ShawniganLake]

Maybe a slight stretch since August is 8 days away but if you really think one will happen...

 

^Right now not looking likely according to that 850 mb plot.

Haha. It was a joke. Based on the 12z GFS.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Yeah, that trend line is below average on the long range ensembles...But we have been seeing that carrot all summer. Maybe a couple days with highs below 90 in the next two weeks.

[Jesse]

Haha. It was a joke. Based on the 12z GFS.

[Jesse]

12z took away the hundreds next weekend.

[weatherfan2012]

DCA dewpoint 72, SEA dewpoint 52.

So it actually felt 5 degrees hotter at DCA.

I will say this we have to watch out with this pattern because it seems to want to repeat quite a bit this summer which would be quite a dangerous set up in September if we have tropical systems in play just a thought.

[Phil]

It’s not so much UHI as EUG’s favorable location for cold pooling and lots of clear, still nights this month.

Part of it is definitely the UHI. Because UHI is, by nature, most amplified on calm, clear nights with poor mixing and enhanced radiative cooling.

 

So you’re essentially describing the UHI effect to a tee.

[Phil]

I will say this we have to watch out with this pattern because it seems to want to repeat quite a bit this summer which would be quite a dangerous set up in September if we have tropical systems in play just a thought.

Well, I’m not returning to that disgusting swamp until late August, minus a few days from 8/7-9.

 

So I can’t worry about that right now.

[Phil]

Getting ready for a casual family baseball game. Beautiful outside once again with bright sunshine and cool temperatures around 70*F here.

[TT-SEA]

Getting ready for a casual family baseball game. Beautiful outside once again with bright sunshine and cool temperatures around 70*F here.

77 here already.

[Jesse]

88F here today.

 

The drought codes in the Chilcotin and Cariboo were pretty extreme last year. Things look fairly normal up there this year. I think if we see a lot of smoke it will be from the south.

There were a few fires putting out a lot of smoke south of Kelowna when we were up there over the weekend.

[GobBluth]

GFS looking less extreme over the weekend, GEM is gone more extreme.

[ShawniganLake]

There were a few fires putting out a lot of smoke south of Kelowna when we were up there over the weekend.

Yea. There are several smaller fires burning in the Okanagan. It’s drier in the interior as you head south. They are unfortunately close to town and causing some evacuations.

[Phil]

Point taken, but UHI aside, I think PDX nights tend to run warmer than EUG because of better mixing.

Well, I have to take your word for it, since I don’t know enough about the microclimates here to claim otherwise.

 

Though I’m sure the UHI @ PDX has widened the gap in such scenarios.

[Deweydog]

Hour 384 on the 12z is deceptively cold.

 

#earlystarttoinversionseason

[Phil]

How common do cloudless days happen here? This is the second day in a row where I haven’t seen a single cloud anywhere, at any time.

 

This almost never happens back home during the warm season. And only occasionally during the winter.

[Deweydog]

How common do cloudless days happen here? This is the second day in a row where I haven’t seen a single cloud anywhere, at any time.

 

This almost never happens back home during the warm season. And only occasionally during the winter.

Pretty rare if you include chemtrails.

[TT-SEA]

How common do cloudless days happen here? This is the second day in a row where I haven’t seen a single cloud anywhere, at any time.

 

This almost never happens back home during the warm season. And only occasionally during the winter.

Its fairly common here in the summer... sometimes it happens in the fall and winter too with offshore flow.

[ShawniganLake]

How common do cloudless days happen here? This is the second day in a row where I haven’t seen a single cloud anywhere, at any time.

 

This almost never happens back home during the warm season. And only occasionally during the winter.

Pretty common during a strong summer ridge. Though, if you look hard you can often find a few pop up over the higher terrain.

[MossMan]

12z took away the hundreds next weekend.

Crap.

[Phil]

Pretty common during a strong summer ridge. Though, if you look hard you can often find a few pop up over the higher terrain.

I can see the Cascades from the house and there was some cumuloform stuff there when I left (obviously some small terrain instability cells or orographic lifting there) but it still feels weird to see no clouds anywhere within a line of sight.

 

I can’t recall that ever happening back home during the warm season. Only during deep Arctic airmasses in the dead of winter. And even then it’s infrequent.

 

Pretty cool stuff.

[TigerWoodsLibido]

How common do cloudless days happen here? This is the second day in a row where I haven’t seen a single cloud anywhere, at any time.

 

This almost never happens back home during the warm season. And only occasionally during the winter.

 

Common in the south Willamette Valley, last few years the most common summer clouds have been smoke and ashfall.

[ShawniganLake]

FB423671-8BA9-4602-89EE-63F6EEA2999D.jpeg

The GEPS looks fairly similar too.

[Frontal Snowsquall]

http://www.ultimatesportstalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/wsu3.jpg

[BLI snowman]

12z Euro shows a nice cool airmass on Friday now all of a sudden with Portland only hitting 90. 

 

PDO dropping goodness.

[Deweydog]

12z Euro shows a nice cool airmass on Friday now all of a sudden with Portland only hitting 90.

 

PDO dropping goodness.

90 is still SEVERAL degrees above average, Silly Sam Gooserton!

[SilverFallsAndrew]

90 is still SEVERAL degrees above average, Silly Sam Gooserton!

 

Well BELOW average for Redding, whose climate we are now appropriating. 

 

According to the climate data available on Wikipedia, Redding averages 5.4" of snowfall a year... I should probably do a deeper dive into the data, but that struck me as a bit high...

[BLI snowman]

90 is still SEVERAL degrees above average, Silly Sam Gooserton!

 

The modern (2014-present) average at PDX is actually 90 for late July.

[BLI snowman]

Well BELOW average for Redding, whose climate we are now appropriating. 

 

According to the climate data available on Wikipedia, Redding averages 5.4" of snowfall a year... I should probably do a deeper dive into the data, but that struck me as a bit high...

 

That's average, not median. Redding saw 23" in a single storm once in December 1968. They have occasionally gotten blasted with slush, although they're more like Bakersfield nowadays.

 

Portland is now Roseburg and Seattle is Longview. 

[Front Ranger]

Any other cheerleader pics?

[Front Ranger]

I can see the Cascades from the house and there was some cumuloform stuff there when I left (obviously some small terrain instability cells or orographic lifting there) but it still feels weird to see no clouds anywhere within a line of sight.

 

I can’t recall that ever happening back home during the warm season. Only during deep Arctic airmasses in the dead of winter. And even then it’s infrequent.

 

Pretty cool stuff.

 

Yeah, if you look at the Space Needle cam now, the only clouds within view are small cumulus over both the Olympics and Cascades: https://www.spaceneedle.com/webcam/

[BLI snowman]

Any other cheerleader pics?