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| July 2007 »
If you're not ready to be hot just quite yet...you might want to get ready. =)
After seeing seeing some clouds for the start of the upcoming week, the jetstream will be pushing to the north...and a huge ridge of high pressure is expected to develop over the entire western third of the country by Tuesday and Wednesday. You can see that jetstream pushing to our north in the map below.
The reason that the high pressure system's so important...it's going to bring a clear blue sky to the area. So bright...and hot sunshine...will dominate the forecast. High pressure will also keep cool Pacific air offshore, and allow hot air from the high desert east of the Cascades to push into the region. How hot? Temperatures at a key forecast level of the atmosphere seem to indicate that highs will be approaching the middle...and even upper 90s...by Thursday. You can see that temperature map below.
Bottom line...it's going to get hot! So try and stay hydrated, especially if you're going to be outside on the Fourth of July. That's when the hot weather...in the 90s...will start to push in. Also, with hot and dry weather, our fire danger is going to be going up in time for the holiday...something to keep in mind when setting off fireworks on the Fourth.
Good luck staying cool...and enjoy the sun! I'm forecasting a sunburn in my future. Ha...ha... Okay, sorry for the weatherman humor. Couldn't resist. =)
I've been getting some emails and phone calls concerning weather balloon data. Most of the questions concern how come we're not giving the freezing level over Salem anymore? The answer balloons aren't being launched from Salem. When I report the freezing level it's now from Medford.
Don't worry it's not permanent. The National Weather Service is doing a major up grade of balloon tracking equipment.
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Balloons are launched twice a day from various locations across the country. It's old technology but still very useful. Balloons gather data on temperature, pressure and wind speeds. In Oregon the balloons are launched from Medford and Salem. NWS estimates the upgrade and overhaul should be finished this weekend and balloons should start being launched again starting early next week.
Dave
As many of you know one of my passions is aviation. When I was in 4th grade I earned a cub scout merit badge explaining how a jet engine works. Ok so I'm really an aviation freak! Long before I went into meteorology my career track was aviation. If it wasn't for a chance meeting with a TV reporter years ago things might have been different.
If it has wings and a motor I want to fly it. I'm particularly interested with obscure and unique planes. Recently I've been flying a very rare bird, a Royal Airforce Auster Mk VI.
The Auster belongs to a very good friend, Hank Bullock. He bought the plane back in the 1980s. I shouldn't plane what Hank, actually purchased was a trailer full of airplane parts. It's now one of two flying in the United States and maybe one of 100 left world wide. It's won over a dozen awards at fly ins up and down the West Coast.
What I find really cool about the Auster is it's history. This airplane flew with the VF644, the famed flying dragon squadron of The Royal Airforce in Hong Kong.
Back when Hong Kong was a British Colony, Hank's, Auster flew the fence line that seperated Hong Kong from what was then known as Communist China. I've included a link below showing The Auster flying patrol back in 1962.
Mkhttp://www.grs.gov.hk/PRO/srch/english/imgdisplay.jsp?RecordKey=799767&s=HKPRO_Archive_web&version=internet&page=1
Just in case you're interested in seeing this piece of flying history, Hank and I will be flying the Auster to several Northwest Air shows this summer, including The EAA Northwest Airshow in Arlington Washington and the Northwest Antique Flyin In McMinnville Oregon.
Tally Ho!
Dave
The summer solstice...the first day of summer...has come and gone, and with it, the most sunlight we'll see all year. This past Thursday (June 21), the first day of summer, brought us more than 15 hours of sunlight. The sun was also pretty high in the sky...at more than 68 degrees above the horizon. While the sun wasn't quite directly above us, at 90 degrees, 68 degrees is still pretty high! That angle made our sunlight quite bright on June 21.
By contrast, the first day of winter, December 21, will bring our sun angle down to just 21 degrees above the horizon...so the sun will be very low in the sky. At that lower angle, the light that we receive tends to seem a bit dimmer. Combine that with our gray, rainy skies, and it can be pretty dark around here! The fact that we only see a little more than eight hours of sunlight on the first day of winter can't help, either.
But, that's six months away. And, even though it's dark here in winter, ski season in the Northwest is pretty nice! =)
We're going into the first weekend of summer and it looks and feels more like... Well anything but summer. Temperatures are going to remain cool and we've a chance of seeing precipitation Saturday and Sunday.
The big guy himself, upstairs corner office occupant Paul Fry, General Manger of the big 8 paid me a visit Friday, worried his weekend golf game would get rained on.
You know when the man signing the paychecks is not happy about the weather nobody else is either. So the big question in the newsroom tonight is when is summer really going to start.
Not just on the calander but weather wise. You know sunny skies, warm temperatures barbecue on the patio, going to a baseball games summer weather. The stations GM gets his golf games in kind of weather. We had a taste of summer weather earlier this week, before our weekend clouds and cooler temperatures returned.
My answer to the topic of the night, I think summer weather will return soon. Maybe as early as next week. The summer weather might stick around for a while too.
Climate prediction forecasts have come out this week pointing to a warmer and drier than normal conditions through September.
So maybe the saying "summer starts in the northwest on July 5th" might not hold true this year. It better start soon... there's nothing worse than feeling pressure from a station manager who has his golf games rained out. :-)
Fore
Dave
I have a confession to make. I blew the forecast for today. That's the most polite way of putting it. In private company I call it something else, KGW would likely be fined by the FCC if I mention it in this forum.
Last night I stood up in front of the green weather wall and said, hey it's going to be cloudy, damp and cool for the first day of summer. Now that I've wiped most of the egg off my face, I'll tell you a secret. Despite satellite images, computer models and doppler radar. Mother nature still has the last word!
 Skycams at the coast showed clouds, rain gauges at Astoria, were clicking with light precipitation amounts.
 Computer models showed a nice layer of moist air coming ashore from the southwest. Well it's not the first time I've been wrong nor will it be the last. What have I learned from this? the first lesson from meteorology 101. Weather is dynamic, and not always as easy to predict as one might think.
Back to square one
Dave
Translation please? For those of you who paid attention during latin class, it means sun standing. In this case on June 21st at 11:06 AM PDT it's the summer soltice (the beginning of summer) The sun over Portland reach 68 degrees above the horizon. Thursday and Friday will be the longest days of the year in with over 17 hours of daylight. North of the Arctic Circle or the 66th parallel the sun will not set for 24 hours of daylight.
 Hence my home state of Alaska's nickname land of the midnight sun. It's great in the summer. But it also means on the first day of winter December 21st. NO SUNRISE! 24 hours of darkness. That's the part the Alaska Department of Tourism doesn't talk about!
Regards
Dave
If you're thinking the month of June has been cloudy and cool you're right. With less than two days before the start of summer we've not seen much in the way of summer like weather. Our average high temperature should be 73 degrees. So far we seen just 7 days in June with temperatures at or above average. Despite the clouds it's not been all that wet this month. We've seen .82" of rain that's over .25" below normal for the month.
Regards
Dave
From now through the first of next week we'll see the longest days of the year. Sunset is now at 9:03pm. Even though we're seeing our maximum amount of daylight we won't see our warmest temperatures for a few more weeks. The reason is heat lag. 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by water. Water heats up and cools down much slower than air or land. So we typically see our warmest weather of the year about 4 or 5 weeks after the summer solstice, Usually July and August. The reverse is happens in the winter. Typically the coldest temperatures are found in January and Febuary, well after the winter solstice.
Now a warning warning for you drivers. We had a major milestone in the Salesky household over the weekend, daughter Karen, turned 15. Saturday morning bright and early Karen and mom she headed to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Passing her written test at 9:45 the State of Oregon had a new driver on the road at 10:00
I know my life has changed for ever. Now instead of Daddy can you take me. Daddy can I drive to...
Regards
Dave
Wednesday on our sunrise news we showed pictures of ice bergs that are drifting near the coasts of Nova Scotia and New Foundland. It's the first time large bergs have been spotted so far south in decades! The bergs pose hazards to fishing and shipping in the region. ( Think Titanic ) The bergs have been breaking off the Greenland Ice sheet. This year the ice bergs are not only futher south than in recent memory but also more numerous.
Joanna Ceciliani, one of our viewers saw the story and rushed off an email to me. According to Joanna, last week she was returning to Oregon from a vacation in Europe. At 30,000ft over the Atlantic she looked out the window. Below her the coast of Greenland. Joanna, pulled out her camera and started taking pictures of ice breaking off glaciers, falling into the sea and drifting out into the North Atlantic. Maybe the same bergs we showed on the news on Wednesday.
Oh humm weather across Portland Today. A weak Trough is moving across the Pacific Northwest today. The result has been clouds and some showers at the coast. Look at ODOT camera near Astoria this morning.
The damp weather on the coast never pushed inland. We've lots of mid-level clouds but coast range mountains managed to squeeze most of the moisture out of the clouds. Portland and the Willamette Valley are east of the Coast Range. The light rain and drizzle was blocked by what called a rain shadow effect.
Normally the Coast Range is not high enough to create much of a rain shadow. In this case today's weather system is weak. The mountains tall enough to block the precipitation, but not the clouds. Central Oregon is basking under fair skies today because Cascades Mountains are high enough to squeeze the remaining moisture out of the cloud cover.
Regards
Dave
The 2007 Rose Festival has come to and end. As always the highlight of Rose Festival The Grand Floral Parade. This Year the biggest in Rose Festivals 100 years. As most of you know it rain through the entire parade. Almost a half of an inch from Saturday morning until nightfall.
The weather was wet and cool, but the spirit of the crowd was warm and sunny. Neither tape gate 07 or the weather could keep large crowds away or dampen the enthusiam for the parade. As a member of the Royal Rosarians, marching the 5 mile long parade route I had a great prospective. Here's some pictures I took along the way.
The picture above pretty much sums up the day. These people are true Oregonians!
Marching down Martin Luther King Blvd. The crowd was 7 to 10 deep! Nearly everybody had an umbrella and was wearing rain gear.
This might be my favorite picture of Saturday's parade. A fellow Rosarian, decked out in our traditional white suits, notice the suit protected by see through rain jacket. Also note the stylish sun glasses. Ray Ban Wayfers, Circa 1988!
The King of Rosaria! Rex Oregonus. Aka Bud Clark, former mayor of Portland.
The Character of Rex Oregonus was a fixture of Rose Festival until the 1930s. Rex was brought back this year as part of Rose Festivals 100 anniversery. I hope he comes back in 2008. It's one of Rose Festivals traditions I feel should never have gone away.
Finally, Tape Gate as I call it. Why a certain city commisioner decided to stir the pot over the long held practice of marking off spots on the parade route I just don't
understand.
As you can see most people along the parade route took the controversy in stride and with a good since of humor!
Dave Salesky
Meteorologist KGW-TV
I had the opportunity to attend a climate-change journalism conference this weekend right here in Portland. As a meteorologist, it was a great opportunity for me to brush up on the science, and also get some ideas on what I can do to fight climate change.
You may be familiar with the concept. Greenhouse gases...some of which are emitted from cars, power plants, planes, and others...are gases that help warm the planet. The amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been increasing significantly since the 1800s, largely because of human activities. And many scientists believe that that increase in greenhouse gases is leading to climate change...and global warming.
It's also important to note that most of our homes use electricity from those power plants...and some of that power comes from the burning of coal. If you can personally use less electric, than you're indirectly reducing greenhouse-gas emissions...and so helping in the fight against climate change.
If you're concerned about climate change, simply reduce how much electric you use. One of the easiest ways to do that, in my opinion, is to replace some of your home light bulbs...the traditional incandescent bulbs...with what is called a compact fluorescent bulb (CFL). You can see one in the picture below.
The 'Energy Star qualified' CFLs use 75% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. So your home would be using that much less electric, per bulb...helping save you money, and also reducing carbon emissions. In fact, if every American home replaced just one incandescent bulb with a CFL...it'd be the equivalent of stopping the greenhouse-gas emissions from 800,000 cars! Another benefit...these CFLs produce 75% less heat than traditional bulbs...what some would consider a great thing with the warm summer months coming up.
There are some negatives to these CFLs that you should know about. One concern about buying these bulbs may be the cost, since they are more expensive than traditional incandescent bulbs. But...a CFL lasts ten times as long as a normal bulb...so instead of buying ten normal bulbs, you'll only have to buy one of these....helping make up for that initial cost difference. Another concern...each CFL contains a small amount of mercury...so they have to be disposed of properly. Many local municipalities can help with that disposal.
And I, personally, feel like the benefits of using these bulbs outweigh the costs; I've already changed most of my light bulbs to CFLs. It really was a quick and easy way for me to help reduce my personal carbon emissions...what's known as a 'carbon footprint.' It's a small step, but one that I feel is a step in the right direction.
If you have any questions for me about climate change, as always, feel free to e-mail me.
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