Finally! 60 Degrees!

Does it feel like summer? Compared to where we have been, it should! As of 3pm, the Portland International Airport has finally reached 60 degrees or higher for the first time this calendar year, besting the previous all-time record set on March 27th 1955. The last time Portland saw its “first 60″ this late in the calendar year was on 3/31/1922, nearly 90 years ago. Records were kept in downtown Portland at that time.”

March Rainfall Update —

“With very little additional rainfall expected in the waning few hours of March, the Portland airport will end up with the 5th wettest March on record, registering 6.43″ of rainfall for the month as of 3pm. The all-time record for March is 7.52″ set in 1957. Records date back to 1940 at the Portland airport. Precipitation totals registered this March in and around Portland are nearly double the March average. The stretch of consecutive days with measurable (0.01″ or more) rainfall at the Portland International Airport has also ended as of yesterday, 3/30/2011. It rained every single day from March 7th through March 29th (23 days total). That set a new all-time record for consecutive rainy days in the month of March. However Portland fell just shy of breaking the all-time record for anytime of the year. That particular record was set in January of 1950 with 29 consecutive days of rainfall at the Portland airport.”

Nearly An All-Time Record —

“Troutdale, Oregon received 7.57″ of rainfall in the month of March (through 3pm today), which nearly surpassed the all-time March record set in 2003 when 7.75″ of precipitation fell. Troutdale’s rainfall total for March ranks 3rd on the all-time wettest March list, following 7.75″ in 2003 and 7.74″ in 1961. Records at Troutdale date back to 1948.”

Stay tuned!
Steve

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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