"Fest" Forecast = HOT!

It is time to address something “VERY” important (pun intended)! The 2011 “FEST” forecast for this coming weekend’s 40th annual Vancouver Sausage Festival! Here is the forecast in one word — HOT! Temperatures will be in the 90’s from today through the weekend. Expect three things if you attend this years fest; 1. Potentially the hottest weather of any of the past 40 festivals. 2. Plenty of good friends. 3. Plenty of cold beverages in the fest garden each night beginning Friday.

After just two days at or above 90 degrees this entire summer at the Portland International Airport, many areas of western Oregon and southwest Washington are going to get a taste of true summer weather this week. Nature’s oven will be cranking up the heat for the rest of this week and likely into the weekend. A ridge of high pressure will anchor itself over the west on Tuesday, building into the Pacific Northwest by Wednesday and remaining in place through the weekend. Daytime high temperatures across the Portland metro area will likely reach 90 degrees or higher beginning Wednesday and could remain there through Saturday. As winds switch to the east on Wednesday, smoke from area wild fires will likely be pushed into the valley areas once again. Portland has a good shot at seeing anywhere from three to four days in a row at or above 90 degrees beginning Wednesday. If Portland experiences four or more consecutive days at or above 90 degrees in the month of September, it will indeed be a rare occurrence.”

Here are some September temperature facts for the Portland International Airport (1940-2011) —

  • Record number of consecutive September days at or above 90 degrees = 6 days, set in 1974.
  • Record number of 90 degree or higher days during the entire month of September = 8 days set in 1974.
  • Highest temperature ever recorded in the month of September = 105 degrees, set on September 2nd 1988.

Here are the record high temperatures for the next few days at the Portland International Airport (1940-2011). At this point, Thursday appears to have the best chance of reaching or surpassing a daily record —

Tuesday – 97 degrees set in 1958
Wednesday – 99 degrees set in 1981
Thursday – 93 degrees set in 1993
Friday – 94 degrees set in 1948
Saturday – 95 degrees set in 1973
Sunday – 94 degrees set in 2009

Don’t forget — get my latest weather updates now via Facebook. Send me a friend request and I will add you in. See: http://www.facebook.com/stevepiercevancouver

Stay tuned!
Steve Pierce
http://www.piercevideo.com/weather.shtml

Steve Pierce

Steve Pierce

Steve Pierce is widely known as Oregon and Washington's "go-to-guy" when it comes to fast, accurate historical meteorological research and forecasts. Steve is currently the President of the Oregon Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Steve is also recognized as a regional weather commentator and blogger who can be heard on local radio stations and seen in print media outlets across the Pacific Northwest. His Weather Blog is hosted by the Columbian Newspaper in Vancouver. Check it out! He is a third generation resident of Vancouver, Washington and holds a degree in Communications. Both sets of Steve's grandparents migrated to Vancouver during World War II. One set traveled from Lenox, Iowa to work in the Kaiser Shipyards supporting the war effort. The other set came to Vancouver from Olympia, Washington to work as educators for the rapidly expanding Vancouver School District. When the war was over, both sets of grandparents decided to stay in Vancouver and continue raising their families, as did thousands of other families at the time. Those who are most familiar with Steve can attest to the fact that weather is his true passion. His love for "all things weather" began at the age of 7 when Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980. He was fascinated with which direction the ash plumes were headed. Then came the very powerful windstorm of Friday, November 13, 1981, also referred to as the "Friday the 13th" storm. This was the strongest storm to hit the Portland / Vancouver area since the great Columbus Day Storm of 1962! At age 11, he was asked to publish an extended weather forecast for his elementary school's weekly newsletter. In the 1980's, at age 14, Steve was the youngest of KGW-TV's local "weather watchers" and would phone in his daily Vancouver weather stats to then television meteorologist Jim Little for use on-air. Steve has lived through all of the major Pacific Northwest weather events of the past 30 years, and then some. The most notable events include; the bitterly cold winter of 1978-1979, the record setting snow storms of January 1980, the summer heat wave of August 1981, the windstorms of November 1981 and December 1995, the severe arctic blast of February 1989, the record flood of February 1996, the historic ice storm of January 2004, the Vancouver tornado of January 2008 and the record setting snow storm of Christmas 2008. Not to mention every Mt. St. Helens volcanic eruption in between. With access to the most extensive set of historical weather records available to date, Steve has personally designed and integrated a proprietary system that gives him the ability to quickly locate and manipulate weather data as far back as the 1800's. As one local Meteorologist put it, "Steve has fast access to historical weather data that is needed for media, agriculture, business, personal, historical and other climatological needs. He can quickly manipulate the data in many different ways. His forecasts are also quite accurate, especially at longer lead times." Steve also provides local storm assessments, narratives and weather presentations to the general public, as requested. In his spare time, Steve enjoys spending time with his family, the outdoors, vacationing at his family's coastal cabin and just relaxing! By the way, do you like your weather on the "extreme" side? So does Steve! Whether it is collecting damage assessment data & photos after record setting 125 mph winds at the coast in December 2007, being one of the first on the scene after the January 2008 Vancouver tornado, or feeling (literally) the awesome power of 100 mph wind gusts at Oregon's Crown Point in January 2010, Steve has experienced it all! As Steve says, "don't just love weather, live weather!" Check out Steve's personal weather website at: http://www.piercevideo.com/weather.shtml

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