Rare July Weather Continues

The Portland International Airport will close out the month of July without a single 90 degree high temperature. This is the first such occurrence in the month of July in nearly 20 years. One has to go back to July of 1993 in order to find another July without a single 90 degree high temperature in Portland. The average temperature at the airport is just 66.3 degrees (through 7/28) which is -1.7 degrees below normal for the month-to-date. The average (normal) high temperature in Portland for the month of July is just over 68 degrees. Cool onshore flow continues this summer with no heat waves on the horizon anytime soon. Portland’s highest temperature so far this entire calendar year is 87 degrees, set on July 6th and again on July 24th. Historically speaking, the average first 90 degree temperature of the year in Portland occurs on June 30th. We are a solid 30 days behind schedule which continues the trend over the past few months. The last month that Portland experienced an average monthly temperature at or above normal was in January. Below are some additional stats on just how cool this July has been:

Average monthly temperature departures at the Portland International Airport in 2011

January = +1.8 degrees above normal
February = -2.8 degrees below normal
March = -1.1 degrees below normal
April = -3.3 degrees below normal
May = -3.0 degrees below normal
June = -1.0 degrees below normal
July (through 7/28) = -1.7 degrees below normal

July’s that have never reached 90 degrees or higher at the Portland International Airport (Period of record used is 1950-2011)

2011
1993
1989
1986
1966
1964
1963
1957
1955
1954 (Note – there were no 90 degree high temperatures the entire calendar year in 1954. This is the only occurrence on record of this at the Portland International Airport).

Most ever 90 degree days in July at the Portland International Airport (Period of record used is 1950-2011)

14 of 31 July days in 2009

Latest first 90 degree temperature (or higher) at the Portland International Airport in a given calendar year (Period of record used is 1940-2011)

September 13th 1957

Top 5 coldest July’s on record at the Portland International Airport (Period of record used is 1950-2011)

YEAR / JULY

1954 / 63.0
1963 / 63.0

1955 / 63.4
1993 / 64.3
1964 / 64.5

Warmest July average temperature on record at the Portland International Airport (Period of record used is 1950-2011)

74.1 degrees in 1985

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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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