Average August

Last month pretty much went down like a typical August. Daily high temps were boosted slightly above average by a short but hot heat wave with temps perilously close to 100 degrees. Some areas in and around the Portland-Vancouver Metro did bust into the triple figures. I did not however. In fact, I have not yet seen a 100 degree mark this year. That is not unusual as the last 15 years of reporting at this location, 9 years had no 100 degree days. Furthermore, I have only recorded a total of 10 days in triple figures since 2002.

September is a month that can produce hot temps, but if we fail to smack the 'century bell' in the next two weeks, we won't.

Rain was slightly on the scarce side but typical for August and overnight lows were a little cooler than average so the mean temp was probably as close to statistical normal as is possible.

We had 7 days over ninety degrees in August and that compares to a typical YEAR getting only 10 such days. The hottest of those was a mark of 99.3 degrees on the 19th. Humidity was fairly dry that day at around 25-30% so the "feels like" temp was around 102 or so. The average daily high for the month came in about 2 degrees warm with 82.1 observed against the long term average of 80.21. The coolest afternoon high was a moderate 66.7 degrees on the 9th with some scattered showers about.

The overnight lows averaged out at 55.79 which is only around a 1/2 degree cooler than the typical 56.35. There were 3 days with overnight lows stuck in the 60s including the balmiest evening low of 62.8 on the 13th. The chilliest mark came the morning of the 6th when the mercury decided to take a dip to 48.7. That was one of three lows below 50 degrees.

Nothing exciting on the 'skywater' scene for August. I recording a dry 0.26 inches of rain falling below the "normal" mark of 1.27. Honestly July and August rainfall is typically less than 0.50 inches but every few years a big thunderstorm rolls in and drops 2 or 3 inches and skews the average. Kind of like snowfall in the winter, we usually get a dusting or two each year but every 4-5 years we get a dumping.

Speaking of snow, I bought a Jeep, so it damn well better be a snowy winter this year ;)

Get out and soak it up my friends, summer is coming to a rapid close. Soak it up.

Cool July, Nice, Very Nice!

'Nice' is an apt description for the month of July we just enjoyed. Sure there was that one week that was cloudy and even a bit showery, but the rainfall stats were still slightly lower than my 15 year normal. Temps were about 3 degrees cooler than my normal as well. After the last couple of blazing hot summers, I'll take a cooler more typical summer and love it.

The stats played out typical across the board and there were few extremes this past month. The average observed daily high was 76.67 about three shy of the typical 79.71. the average observed overnight low was a very typical 55.35 against a normal of 56.18.

The warmest temperature I recorded was 91.8 degrees on the 28th one of just two days above 90 degrees last month the other a 90.9 mark on the 29th. The coolest temperature was a fairly nippy for July 46.2 the morning of the 14th. That was one of two sub 50 marks in July. The chilliest daytime high came on the 4th of July of all days when I was stuck at 65.3 degrees. Fortunately for all the Independence Day crazies here in the 'Couv' it was a mostly clear day and night. The warmest overnight low arrived on the 21st following a nice 84.9 degrees earlier with 63.7.

The rain bucket got five days of action but only two with any real rain the 7th and 8th with 0.15 and 0.38 inches respectively. The whole month had a fairly typical but less than average 0.70 inches measured against 1.02 as "normal".

That was just a fantastic month. My son Kyle, is in the Army and is stationed at Fort Polk, LA. He will be coming out for a visit next week and believe me he will love our cool weather even if we end up having a heat wave. He has endured routine daily highs in the upper 90s with humidity pushing the heat index well above 120 degrees! Yuck!

So with that in mind get outside and soak it up my friends; soak it up!