PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A slow chant is building around Portland — there seems to be a resonating question of when summer is going to arrive.
It’s truthfully been more of a request for a few sunny days. However, you may be wondering when we will start to warm up around here? If you’re following the weather story from yesterday, you may know that it’s going to take more than this week to get there (although Wednesday is looking like a charming day). We are probably going to be holding onto cooler temperatures, at least up to our official first day of summer.
When will summer arrive? The quick response is astronomical summer officially begins Tuesday, June 21, at 2:13 a.m. That is one week away.
The weather data will give us a general idea of what to expect — and right now, it’s leaning towards some dry time and temperatures in the lower to mid 70s. That sounds just about perfect for the first day of summer.
In fact, that’s about where we should be for this time of June. The graphic below is how the month of June breaks down. This is a 30-year average, which tells us that the average high from June 18-21 is 75 degrees. There is a consistent and steady climb to the upper 70s by the end of the month.
We will start to take advantage of that summer sun angle and we will start to see those temperatures warming on up from that point on. If you’re thinking summer doesn’t start until we have some 80s or 90s, well we can’t make any promises this week. That is where we need to be realistic with the current weather pattern and we need to discuss this question with more wind (aka more words).
We have found our way into the 80s before this year. It’s not saying much because it hasn’t happened much. We hit that threshold one time this year. Portland topped off at 81 degrees on June 2, 2022. We have yet to get to that mark again. This is why the question about when and if summer will arrive anytime soon for the Pacific Northwest (PNW) is being voiced more frequently.
It sure seems like we are just trailing behind by a few weeks this year. It took us nearly a full month from our average first 80-degree day to hit 80. We have surpassed our normal first 90-degree (average going back to 1941) day by 10 days. Will we hit 80-degrees again this month? That is a likely outcome, but it isn’t promised.
Will we hit 90-degrees this month? That feels like a likely outcome too if you look at the average first date, but when we look at the weather pattern, it sure seems like it will be a tough task. There is one thing that we must continue to stress and that is the fact that the cooler temperatures are helping the drought. We have had more rain and the snowfall is holding longer. That snow is used in the summer so we do not want to deplete that resource quickly.
When we hit the 90-degree threshold this year, it will be the latest that we have done that going back to at least 2015. We hit our first 90-degree day in 2019 on June 11. Last year we had our first 90-degree day on June 1! We hit 95 degrees that day, which was foreshadowing for the month (the heat dome).
So if you’re wondering when summer is going to arrive… it will be here next week, but the summer temperatures may not be here for the celebration. We will keep an eye on that extended forecast, looking for the weather pattern to show signs of warmer days.
