We have entered back into a more stable summertime weather pattern, and currently there are no signs of the intense heat returning anytime soon.
Details
Now through next Tuesday: Basically mostly sunny, with lows each night in the mid to upper 50s and highs close to 90 degrees. Honestly, pretty great summertime weather in my opinion. Still nice and warm for outdoor activities and water recreation, but not the scorching heat we experienced recently.
Wednesday: The influence of slightly cooler air arrives at some point during the day on Wednesday. I’m thinking highs top out around 85° before we start cooling off nicely that evening. I’m watching though for the slight chance for a shower or thunderstorm that day. Nothing real promising yet, but enough of a chance exists that I wanted to mention it.
Thu – Sun of next week: A much more comfortable summertime pattern with the upper level flow generally out of the west and northwest. Lows each morning in the mid to upper 50s, and highs in the mid 80s.
I will update you should I see any important changes – specifically the chance for a shower or storm next week; otherwise, the warm summer weather will continue. Have a great rest of your day and weekend and as always, stay safe out there!
It’s hot – really hot, and this heatwave looks to continue for 2 more days.
For today highs will again top out in the low 100s with temperatures soaring above 95° by 12:30pm making for a long stretch of extremely uncomfortable temperatures.
Wednesday: We will feel and notice the slight impact of weak onshore flow. Breezes will be more out of the northwest helping take the edge off the heat. High of 95° which will be about ten degrees cooler than today, but still very hot and well above average.
Thursday: Thursday morning will begin in the mid to upper 50s which will be another sign of the SLIGHTLY cooler airmass in place. Highs this day will only reach about 90° or so.
Fri – Sun: The heat ticks back up a few notches into the mid 90s, but lows should still dip down to the upper 50 lows each morning.
The past few days have been pretty great as far as the weather is concerned. Warm afternoons, but nice cool nights. In fact we touched the upper 40s very early Tuesday morning, but things are changing and much hotter weather is setting in beginning today.
Details
Today: We steadily warm throughout the day reaching a high around 94°.
Fri – Tue:Highs will range from 100 to about 105° each day. Brutally hot. Lows in the mid to upper 60s. This will be a long stretch of very hot weather with 5 days in a row likely reaching the century mark.
Wed – Fri: The heat continues, but with a little less intensity. Highs in the low to mid 90s, and perhaps more importantly, lows back down into the upper 50s at least.
Stay cool and safe out there. This will be one of the longest stretches of 100+ degree weather we have endured here in Salem. Definitely record breaking heat!
Summertime in the mid Willamette Valley is very tame and reliably warm and dry, and that’s probably what most of us love about it. We have had very few deviations from our usual summer weather so far this year. June is currently running about 2.3 degrees above normal which is within the acceptable range if you ask me, and with only two days above 90° so far. However, we are running drier than average and we could have used at least one more good widespread soaking before the summer weather pattern set in. Looking ahead, the chances of rain are slim, but we do have a couple of slight chances, so let’s take a look.
Rest of today: Mostly dry. Slight chance for some sprinkles late in the day. An even smaller chance (big enough to mention to you) for a heavier downpour or maybe even a thunderstorm. Keep your eye to the southwestern sky later today.
Sunday and Monday: Mostly dry. A very small chance for a brief sprinkle or shower at any time during the day. Vast majority of the day will be dry and the vast majority of us will stay dry, but the chance of a shower is present.
Tue – Wed: Dry and warm with plenty of sun. Highs 80 to 84°.
Thursday (Independence Day): Kicks off our first heatwave of the summer. Expect highs around 91° this day.
Fri – Sun: Highs look to top 100 degrees on Friday, somewhere close to 100 degrees on Saturday, and the lower 90s on Sunday. This will be a very hot stretch of days, so prepare accordingly.
Take care and have a wonderful rest of your Saturday!
Other than our brief, but intense heat spell we had back on 10th and 11th of May when highs topped out near 90°, the weather has remained surprisingly normal with very few deviations from average over the past month or so. In my personal opinion, we have had great spring weather! The numbers are pretty much in, and Salem actually ended up slightly cooler than average for the entire month of May (-0.8°F). Looking ahead we finally have a few interesting weather events in store for our region.
Forecast
Rest of today: Dry, but with plenty of clouds. Very comfortable late spring weather if you want my opinion 🙂
Sunday and Monday: We have a major soaking Sunday and Monday. In general, this storm should benefit our lawns and gardens, and it will be nice to have a good natural soaking as we approach summer. Unfortunately, the rain will be heavy at times, so maybe a little overkill with the rain. Wind guests could also top out near 30 to even 40mph Sunday which is pretty wild for early June. Monday stands a shot at seeing some PM sunbreaks, but those sunbreaks could destabilize the atmosphere enough to trigger thundershowers and downpours and more gusty winds.
Tuesday: Mostly cloudy with the chance for a couple leftover showers. Cool, highs in the upper 60s.
Wed: A nice transition day with partly cloudy skies and highs near 80°.
Thu – Sat: All three of these days look pretty warm/hot with highs going from 85° Thursday up to around 90° both Friday and Saturday.
Next Sunday: Currently looks dry still, but not quite as hot with highs in the lower 80s.
Have a fantastic rest of your day, and stay safe out there!
Quick update as we have a little bit of weather “action” to cover. Below is a short forecast for the next several days. In the big picture, there is there is no sign of 80+ degree weather for the next 10 days. Instead we will remain in a fairly cool late spring weather pattern for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, no long stretches of rain either. Sure we will see multiple chances for rain in the coming days, but there will be plenty of dry times in between.
Rest of today: Mainly dry, but some of you could see a shower. This type of pattern can produce “surprise” showers further away than what is forecasted by apps. I’m thinking we stay mostly dry, but don’t be shocked to see a shower or two later today.
Sunday: Mainly dry. Similar situation to what we are experiencing today, but with a slightly higher chance of showers during the afternoon hours.
Monday: Dry. Highs around 73° Partly cloudy.
Tuesday: Dry morning. Widespread PM showers making for a wet afternoon. Highs in the lower 60s.
Wednesday: Wet. Showers likely. Highs again in the lower 60s.
I’ll do my best to provide another update early next week. This time of year there are usually no big storms to track, but it is nice to know when rain could negatively affect outdoor plans.
What a soggy and wet weekend we just had. Salem has picked up nearly two inches of rain between Friday and Sunday, and actually Salem set a new rainfall record back on Saturday for the most rain recorded on that date with a full inch falling just on that day alone.
My previous forecast for Monday and Tuesday remain on track with Monday standing the best chance for thundershowers and big downpours, and Tuesday standing the best chance for some dry weather. We dry out and warm up for the remainder of the week. More on that at the end of this post.
April 2024
April 2024 was a drier month, but with almost perfectly average temperatures. Nothing really exciting happened. We had our usual brief downpours of heavy rain and in some instances – hail, but that is to be expected, and it was far less than we have seen in past Aprils. In the end we had just 60% of our average total precipitation for the month. For temperatures, we ended -0.1° cooler than average, so basically right on the dot. Salem did have a late season freeze on April 17th the official airport temperature reading recorded a low of 32°. Our warmest temp of the month was a high of 75 degrees which took place both on April 2nd and April 23rd.
Thunderstorm info and look ahead
Things to watch for in the coming months include thunderstorm threats, heatwaves, the annual end of our spring showers and storms, and the beginning of our extremely stable warm and dry summertime pattern.
I do have a fun thunderstorm chart for you all which is curtesy of Mark Nelson over at Fox 12 Oregon. It’s true we don’t see very many thunderstorms in the Willamette Valley, and when we do experience them it’s often times a quick rumble or two and nothing more. Despite that, we do have a thunderstorm season here, and this chart below illustrates those seasons (circled on here) by showing the percentage of years lighting was observed in Multnomah County for any given hour of the year per week. For example, 7% of the years analyzed had lighting in Multnomah County during the 9pm hour in the first week of February. Check it out and click for a larger view.
As you can see, there are two distinct thunderstorm seasons here – albeit not very impressive seasons when compared to say Arizona or Florida. Nonetheless, we are currently in our peak thunderstorm season, and will be through most of June.
A second thing which caught my eye is the slight uptick in lightning occurrences during the overnight hours in summer. Salem’s best shot at nighttime lightning goes from roughly July 1st through the first week of September and you can see that represented on the chart.
I’m definitely curious and a little excited (as always) to see how much – if any thunderstorm action we get over the rest of this spring and summer season. Right now we have a shot at some brief thundershower action Monday, and maybe Tuesday before drying out and warming up with no rain or thunderstorm threats afterwards for at least several days. I’ve upped our high temperatures for Friday and Saturday with daytime temps reaching 83 to 85°. Highs on Sunday should still be back into the low 80s. The dry weather should dominate most of next week as well, but if any rain threats pop up I should have adequate time to inform you all.
Have a great Monday, stay safe, and keep an eye out for any lightning you might be lucky enough to spot. 🙂
Bryan Weather Alerts 