Our brief hot spell will end today as a couple of weak weather systems move through British Columbia and switch our winds back to the northwest, ushering in those typical morning clouds we all like.
A pair of 90-degree-plus high temperatures Tuesday and Wednesday surpassed the record number of 90-degree days in a calendar year in Portland. We still officially have one month to go of summer.
The offshore flow of air was enough to bring smoke from the wildfires to our east, making for some hazy skies. Yuck. A switch in the wind flows at the surface and aloft will bring in cleaner ocean air pushing the smoke eastward.
Today and Friday morning clouds should appear and our highs should drop to below seasonal averages into the 70s. This cool-down will also be brief as high pressure rebounds over the weekend and we see highs back into the 80s — maybe 90 degrees.
That warm-up will be brief as well as several weather systems again slide through southern British Columbia and bring low clouds and cooler temperatures. A few showers over the mountains and along the coast may develop. Rain chances here next week are low at this point.
I’ll tell you things look so dry as I travel around the region, it is becoming quite severe. I saw on the television news the other evening a fire was started by a diesel pickup idling with the exhaust igniting the bark dust and quickly jumping across a street, burning a good share of a strip mall. Just the heat of the exhaust.
I guess you would say it is a tinder box outside. On a warm day you can smell the dryness in the air. Officials are still predicting warm and dry weather the rest of summer and into autumn.
A nature side note: Tuesday evening close to sunset, still around 90 degrees, I set out a small sprinkler to water the roses and my current resident frog hopped right in to enjoy the fresh cool water. What a kick! I almost joined him.
Patrick Timm is a local weather specialist. His column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at http://patricktimm.com
