Escaping the notice of the local media, Portland has been running about 40 degrees F colder this year than three years ago. Portland reached 116 F on June 28, 2021, smashing the previous record high for any date of 107 F. The reason for the extreme heat was simple. Strong high pressure inland created a strong offshore flow, bringing hot air from Eastern Oregon and Washington into the Willamette Valley. As soon as that weather pattern broke down and cool Pacific Ocean air returned, we cooled way down. It was 116 F at Portland Airport at 5 pm on the 28th, but only 73 F at 11 pm that evening.

Climate alarmism ran rampant during those days. KOIN 6 Chief Meteorologist Natasha Stenbock called the high temperatures, “Portland’s new normal.” Former Oregon State Climatologist Kathie Dello said, “If we don’t do anything about climate change, 2021 will be one of Portland’s coolest summers.” Current Oregon State Climatologist Larry W. O'Neill added, “The fact that it was so strong, that is an indication I think, of climate change contributing to it.”

In contrast, here is what, a principal research scientist for the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Roy Spencer, had to say at the time. “Despite the near-normal global average temperatures, the USA Lower 48 temperature anomaly of +1.44 deg. C was the warmest in the [June] 43 year satellite record, ahead of +1.15 deg. C in 1988. In contrast, the Antarctic region (poleward of 60 S latitude) experienced its 2nd coldest June (-1.25 deg. C below the 30-year baseline), behind -1.34 deg. C in June, 2017.”

For Portland, it was all a matter of the wind speed and direction. When the wind normally blows off the ocean, we are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. But when the wind reverses direction, we can get spectacularly different weather.

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

A D V E R T I S E M E N T

By the way, with a high temperature of 118 F, The Dalles, Oregon broke the all-time highest temperature record for Washington State on June 28th, 2021. How is that possible? The Dalles weather station is located across the Columbia River at their small airport in Washington State. Oregon did not break its all-time high of 119 F set on August 10, 1898 in Pendleton. And the hottest ever temperature for the USA is 134 F set in Death Valley on July 10, 1913. These very old records still stand.


--Staff Reports

Post Date: 2024-06-28 16:54:37

Last Update: 2024-06-28 19:18:53