By Gordon McCraw, Meteorologist for the Tillamook County Pioneer
It seems it is hot everywhere, except right at the coast, and the record heat will continue for many today and tomorrow. Several records were set again yesterday with Eugene and Salem both reaching 103, Portland also set a new record after reaching 100. Locally, Tillamook airport reached 79 and Astoria airport even hit 81, as did Lincoln City to the south. This heat is compliments of a strong high pressure ridge that will drift over the area today and tomorrow which means several areas in the valley may actually be warmer the next couple of days, with highs possibly reaching 105 for some. Fortunately, the coast will see an increasing onshore flow to help keep it from seeing that record heat.
So, we saw some marine clouds and fog this morning but back came the sun along with some northwesterly winds 5-10, the afternoon high back up near 80. Some stratus and patchy fog will return tonight with calm winds, the low near 54.
Tomorrow looks to repeat the forecast with any clouds and patchy fog clearing mid-morning, leaving a sunny day with westerly winds 5-10, the high again up close to 80. Some patchy fog again possible tomorrow night with light onshore winds, lows near 52.
The ridge continues to drift east Wednesday, and the onshore flow increases, so even the valley will slowly start to cool as the marine air spills into their area as well. Here at the coast, we see a few more clouds with a mostly sunny afternoon, winds becoming northwesterly 8-12 gusting to near 20, the high only up to near 71. Look for partly cloudy skies Wednesday night with light winds, the low near 52.
Thursday the onshore flow gets a little stronger which means things will continue to slowly moderate, both at the coast, and inland. This spells continued patchy morning stratus and fog that burns off leaving a mostly sunny day, the high Thursday only up to near 68 with the breezy afternoon northwesterly winds gusting to 20-25. The winds ease again that night, lows dropping to near 48.
It looks like a fair, dry, and mild weekend is in store with mostly sunny to sunny skies for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, still breezy with the afternoon highs up near 70, then some mostly clear nighttime skies, aside from the marine fog and clouds in the early morning hours, lows down near 49.
Finally, there is still an Excessive Heat Warning in effect until 10PM Tuesday for the Coast Range eastward with some of those areas possibly seeing highs around 105, and it mentions that that those areas could be seeing the warmest nights so far in this prolonged heatwave which would impact recovery times from the days heat.
And you ask, is this heat wave returning anytime soon? A look ahead by the Climate Prediction Center suggests they are leaning towards above normal temperatures with a probability of 40-50% for the period of July 15th through the 21st. But, a look at the long range models suggest a trough of low pressure will be approaching the coast around the middle of next week which would suggest some cooling.