Rod's Weather Headlines

A strong rain cell at 12:20 Tuesday afternoon produced strong winds, leading to roof damage to a home and damage to other homes from large limbs.  Initial reports indicate this was a tornado.  The isolated cell in a northwesterly flow is not our typical or most high chance scenario to produce weak tornadoes.

Here is the NWS report:  

1220 PM     TORNADO          2 W SAINT HELENS        45.86N 122.85W
11/10/2020                   COLUMBIA           OR   NWS STORM SURVEY

            UPDATED PREVIOUS TORNADO REPORT FROM 2 W
            SAINT HELENS. TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN
            NORTHWEST ST HELENS, NEAR INTERSECTION OF
            PITTSBURG AND ROBINETTE RD. THE TORNADO
            MOVED TO THE SOUTHEAST, WITH LIGHT DAMAGE.
            MOST DAMAGES WAS NEAR BARR AVE AND PITTSBURG
            ROAD, WITH DAMAGE TO SOME TREES, A CAMPER,
            AND SNAPPED POWER LINES. THE TORNADO ENDED
            JUST EAST OF THE MCBRIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
            IN ST HELENS. TORNADO PATH LENGTH WAS ABOUT
            1.7 MILES, WITH A DAMAGE PATH WIDTH OF ABOUT
            200 YARDS. ESTIMATED PEAK WINDS 60 TO 65 MPH
            MAKING THE TORNADO AN EF-0. THE START TIME
            WAS AROUND 12:20 PM AND ENDED AROUND 12:26
            PM.

Rod Hill

Greater Portland Metro Area-Greater Vancouver Area-
Including the cities of Hillsboro, Portland, Wilsonville,
Oregon City, Gresham, Troutdale, Vancouver, Battle Ground,
Ridgefield, Washougal, Yacolt, and Amboy
423 AM PDT Mon Sep 7 2020

...HIGH WIND WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 5 PM THIS AFTERNOON
TO 1 PM PDT TUESDAY...

* WHAT...East winds 15 to 30 mph with widespread gusts of 40 to
  55 mph are expected. Locally stronger winds with gusts of 60
  to 65 mph are possible across the West Hills and areas east of
  the Portland and Vancouver Airports.

* WHERE...Greater Portland and Vancouver metro area.

* WHEN...From 5 PM Monday to 1 PM PDT Tuesday.

* IMPACTS...Tree limbs and even whole trees will be susceptible
  to being blown down. Be prepared for power outages. Travel
  will be difficult, especially for high profile vehicles along
  Interstate 205.

* FIRE CONCERNS...Conditions will be favorable for rapid fire
  spread. Use extreme caution with potential ignition sources.

Peak viewing of this year's Perseid Meteor Shower takes place between midnight and the predawn hours of August 11 - 13th.   Experts say 40-50 meteors per hour may be visible depending on sky conditions.  The northeastern sky is your best bet.  Our local forecast calls for a marine layer of low cloud cover Tuesday overnight into Wednesday morning.  Otherwise local viewing away from city lights should be on the good side.  The meteors we see are tiny space debris from comet Swift-Tuttle. 

The NW Large Fire Map shows a total of 6 wildfires burning. Most of the blazes are near containment. The two Oregon fires are less than 400 acres at last check. So far, our fire season is off to a fairly quiet start. Here is praying we stay quiet in the weeks ahead. The forecast does show cooler temps over the next 14 days.

Today's forecast high of 95 degrees for Portland will become the 7th day of 2020 with 90 degree temps or hotter.  With the forecast outlook showing few if any days near and above 90 through the first 10 days of August, it is possible our summer season will hold near the average of 12-13 hot days for the calendar year.  

Rod Hill

UPDATE: July 15, 2020

Comet NEOWISE (2020 F3) is putting on an impressive showing in the pre-dawn northern sky after reaching perihelion or its closest point to the Sun on July 3.  The comet passed 0.29 astronomical unit or 26,957,184 million miles from the Sun.  It was discovered by NASA’s Near Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) spacecraft on March 27.

According to NASA, the comet has a very large nucleus.  Researchers working with NASA’s NEOWISE spacecraft have analysed infra-red emissions of the comet’s core, taken from the spacecraft, and by combining this with visible-light images has revealed that the nucleus is about three miles across and covered with dark particles left over from its formation near the time of the origins of our Solar System some 4.6 billion years ago.  JPL:https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7697

The flood of images show a healthy-looking comet displaying an impressive fan-shaped tail.  Its main dust tail extends to around six degrees in length as seen in the best images and its also sprouted a an ion tail.  

https://spaceweathergallery.com/index.php?title=neowise

After July 14, as Comet NEOWISE heads out, it will likely no longer be visible by eye, but best viewed with binoculars.  About 1 hour after sunset, when you will find it just above the northwestern horizon as the twilight fades into darkness.  Look for the comet near the bowl of the Big Dipper, which is hanging down by its handle above, and from there perhaps to its west.

Each evening thereafter the comet will be getting dimmer at magnitude of +2 to +3, but it will also be getting higher above the horizon.  On July 23rd, when Comet NEOWISE is its closest to Earth, will certainly need binoculars or a telescope as it is predicted to be at magnitude +3 to +4 (brightest of the stars of Ursa Minor).  Comets are generally unpredictable.

(the above courtesy of Jim Todd - Space Science Director OMSI)

Watch Saturday evening, July 4th, for the lunar eclipse.  The sun will set at 9:02 and the full moon will rise at 9:03.  The totality of the moon passing through the Earth's shadow will be at 9:29 pm.  Due to the moon position being low in the eastern sky, the view of the eclipse is likely to be dimmed or diminished.  The eclipse will end at 10:52 as the moon moves completely away from the shadow cast by Earth.  Although skies will be partly to mostly clear, fireworks haze may also reduce viewing.  

Later in the night, around midnight with the moon high in the sky, look for Jupiter and Saturn to shine brightly just to the east or left of the full moon. 

Rod Hill 

You may recall that early summer outlooks from the NWS had Portland and much of the Northwest expecting a hot and dry summer, meaning temps above normal.  It looks like June will average close to climate average and the outlook map below shows cooler than average temps the first 2 weeks of July.

Anyone in favor of holding off hot weather until August?
So far, PDX has hit 90 degrees two days and I don't see any hot ones in our near future.  It remains possible that our region will see a hot back-end of summer, but confidence is growing that earlier outlooks calling for above normal heat this summer will be proven incorrect. 

Rod Hill

( Temp map on the left shows below normal temps the 1st two weeks of July.  The rainfall map on the right shows little confidence for a rain projection, but does not favor a bone dry month.)