I’m not sure if the weather app on my phone has ever forecast 110 degrees for Portland.
At least,not until Saturday morning at 6:27am, when I did my first ‘weather check’ of the day.
That’s when I read 110 degrees for Thursday August 3rd. Is it for real?
I know this much: smartphone weather apps often lead to more questions than answers. So I posed the three questions you see here while doing weather Saturday night on KATU News. Because phone apps…and heatwaves…lead to questions.
You can see how I answered these questions in the second graphic:
- Will Portland see the hottest days of 2017 this coming week? YES.
- Will records fall in the I-5 Corridor including inland areas of Washington and Oregon? YES.
- Will Portland top the all time high of 107 degrees – which has been reached just twice in the city’s history? MAYBE.
I definitely think we’re going to be at approximately 105 degrees on Wednesday and Thursday. But how likely is it that we actually tie or top 107 at the Portland Airport or get all the way to 110 degrees at PDX, where our longterm records are kept?
It is too early to answer that question–no matter what the phone says. However, it is safe to say we’ll be breaking daily high temperature records and perhaps set records for some really warm low temperatures as well.
Things You Can Expect This Week
Here are some things to expect with this kind of record breaking heat.
- Sports with outdoor tryouts or afternoon/evening practices will likely be cancelled
- MAX trains will run at slower speeds during the extreme heat as rails become softer in the sun
- Planes at PDX will use more runway. Hot air is less dense than cool air, so planes work longer to get enough lift for takeoff
- Humans and pets are prone to heat exhaustion. Tuesday-Friday looks like a bad time for you or fido to go on an afternoon run
Now, let’s get back to our regularly scheduled weather app watching to see if that 110 has staying power. And I suggest checking in with the human created forecast from the KATU Weather Team as well.
Those meteorological humans can usually answer the questions that weather app of yours creates!
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