Portland Weather Forecast

Today's Forecast

Thursday, May 23rd 6:00 am

Two cold and wet days are behind us-- with more on the way!

After nearly 1.40" total rainfall in the past 24 hours, expect another wet afternoon. Rain is temporarily tapering off this morning. We had some strong cells containing strong wind gusts pass through overnight...knocking down trees and knocking out power to some customers around the valley. Areas of rain will rotate around an upper-level low pressure area and move through the valley in the afternoon and evening. Daytime highs will be in the mid 50s; well below normal. (70) Overnight lows will be in the mid to upper 40s.

Tomorrow's weather still looks soggy at times. However, more sun breaks will appear. Daytime highs will be around 60 degrees. This weekend, Saturday looks to be the driest of the holiday stretch. Although none of days this weekend will be "washed out", our area will still see a chance of scattered showers.

Rhonda

So far today...

High: 54°

Precip: 0.29"

Low: 46°

Normal

Record

69°

95° (2001)

50°

33° (1960)

Sunrise

5:32am

Sunset

8:43pm

Precipitation

Normal

Tuesday

0.49"

0.08"

This Month

1.00"

1.63"

Since 1/1

9.40"

16.58"

Since 10/1

31.33"

30.70"

Scott's Blog

Weather Blog

Intense thunderstorm upstages cruise ship entertainment (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 23, 2013 at 9:55 AM PDT

It's not often entertainment on board a cruise ship can be upstaged but on this particular night, Mother Nature gave it a shot.

Make that, several shots...

I took this video as the Disney Fantasy sailed into the Gulf of Mexico on May 1 just hours after it left a very hot and muggy Cozumel, Mexico.

(How hot? I went back and checked when I got home and it was 86 degrees with a 73 degree dew point that evening. Or as this Seattleite said: About 3 degrees cooler than molten lava. Though I'm sure many of the Florida residents on the ship probably thought it was a bit chilly.)

Weather Blog Brrr! Portland coldest major city in the nation Wednesday

By Scott Sistek Published: May 22, 2013 at 11:41 AM PDT Last Updated: May 23, 2013 at 10:31 AM PDT

Does it feel a bit like January out there Wednesday? Your skin did not deceive you.

A cold system from the Gulf of Alaska had settled into the Pacific Northwest, bringing not only a steady winter-like rain but has kept temperatures stuck in the 40s(!) through much of the day.

In fact, at 1 p.m., Portland was hovering at 46 degrees -- about the average high for mid-January.

The Rose City would finish the day with a high of 50 degrees --- the second coldest May day on record -- for any date! It shattered the daily record for coldest high temperature on May 22 which had been a "balmy" 55.

It was so chilly in the Northwest that Portland was given the "honor" as the coldest major city in the United States! (Even colder than Seattle (52) and Anchorage (54), although if you add in smaller cities, tied with Spokane, Washington, also at 50.)

Weather Blog How tornado victims got 36 minutes of precious warning time (Photo Gallery)

By Scott Sistek Published: May 21, 2013 at 12:18 PM PDT Last Updated: May 22, 2013 at 10:43 AM PDT

Thirty-six minutes.

That might not seem very long -- roughly about the time it takes to wade through your hourly drama if you blaze through commercials. But compared to a few decades ago, 36 minutes of time might have saved countless lives during the devastating tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma on Monday.

Years ago, the residents of Moore would have likely had no idea the tornado was coming until the twister was sighted, giving people barely a few minutes' notice. But thanks to advancements in technology, tornadoes rarely sneak up on anyone anymore.

In fact, forecasters as early as Wednesday began sounding the alarm for a potential severe weather breakout on Sunday and Monday. And, on Friday, the forecasts became more specific. On Monday, a Tornado Watch, which indicates conditions are right for tornadic development, was issued at 1:10 p.m. for much of Oklahoma, including the greater Oklahoma City area.

Weather Blog "What does ''EF-4'' mean?' and other tornado questions answered

By Scott Sistek Published: May 20, 2013 at 4:10 PM PDT

With tornadoes in the news lately I figured it'd be a good time to post answers to some frequently asked questions about the powerful storms:

What does "EF-4" mean?

WIth the devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma, you'll be hearing a lot of about "EF" ratings -- that's from the Enhanced Fujita Scale that rates tornadoes on a scale of 0 to 5, 5 being the strongest.

The Moore tornado was given a preliminary rating of EF-4 ("Devastating") with estimated tornadic wind speeds of up to 200 mph, although many are thinking that rating could be increased to an EF-5 ("Incredible") once more damage assessment is done.

Sadly, it's not the first time Moore has had to deal with such a catastrophic storm. On May 3, 1999, Moore was struck by an EF-5 tornado which recorded the strongest wind speed ever registered near Earth's surface. this map provided by the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma shows just how close the two tracks were.

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