Rod's Weather Headlines

Hurricane Earl will get lots of media attention in the coming days. The Category 4 storm is showing increased likelihood of moving close to the east coast of the United States.  Current projections take the storm center near the outer banks of the Carolina's Thursday night and Friday morning.  The t...

The Portland record book shows the driest weeks of the year are typically July 11th - August 22nd.  With an exception or two, the climate daily rain chance is 5-15% through the stretch of days.  This summer has been dry even by our summer standards!  Dating back to July 3rd, PDX has recorded .02" of...

Below are a few headline notes from a weather conference earlier this year in Colorado.  The point of the information is not to debate the role of man, but to confirm that earth's climate is seeing what many are calling rapid change.  It should be noted, the planet's climate has always evolved and w...

1.        Is the planet in a warm cycle - yesJust because we are currently off of the peaks of a few years back does not mean the warm cycle is over.  Overall, the global temperatures remain consistently above climate normal's.  Ice loss is still a concern.2.        Do we know if humans played a rol...

Headlines of this weeks heat wave:  Burn Ban for Clackamas county due to hot, dry and windy conditions, Air Quality or Smog Advisory in effect through the weekend.  People are asked to drive less.  The Heat Advisory is in effect through Monday.  90 degree temperatures look likely through Tuesday.  T...

Tonight is the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower.  Skies will be clear for best possible viewing! The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is getting ready for its largest star party of the year on Thursday, August 12! Stargazers will be meeting at bothRooster Rock State Park and Stub Stewart ...

New research discovers reason for our cool and cloudy summer.  The discovery is linked to El Nino, a warming of Pacific equatorial waters and La Nina, a cooling of the same water.  Last winter's pleasant and dry weather was linked to an El Nino Pattern.  Since June of this spring, the waters have be...

The National Weather Service reports a 70% confidence level that La Nina conditions in Pacific waters will be in place by the end of this year.  Present sea surface temperatures are just shy of 2.0 degrees F below normal in the equatorial waters.  The transition into La Nina is believed to be taking...

With all the complaining about our cloudy starts this summer, I went to the record book and looked at July 1st - August 5th going back to the year 2000.  Here is what I found: This year 20 of the 36 days had morning clouds over Portland. That works out to be 55% of the time.  The average number of c...

Celestial TriangleWhen the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look west. Venus, Saturn, and Mars have converged to form a triangle in the sunset sky.   The three planets will remain in triangular formation for many nights to come, only the angles will change.  Tiny Mercury will be to the distan...