heat wave! (Portland, Forest Grove: houses, to live in, dangerous)

[lovethegreen]

Why is it so much hotter here in Portland than in Seattle? I just checked and they tend to run ten degrees cooler than here during the present heat wave. What gives? Where's my central air conditioning?

ltg

[oldtintype]

They're on Puget Sound, we're inland with just a river.

[lovethegreen]

Hi oldintype, I just checked the nwcn.com weather video and they are always biased towards the Seattle side of things and were ringing their hands over it hitting around 90. Ha! I say to them. It is now 98 here. Over on katu.com they've got some good Portland focused weather reporting....forecasting 104 for tomorrow.

I see what you mean about the Sound - they've got a big piece of cooler water right there...also the inland thermal low traveling up from California probably loses a lot of its steam (no pun intended) by the time it gets all the way up there.

edited to add: even though I envy Seattle their cooler temperatures their winters are more oppressive and darker than ours so maybe it's not so bad a trade off.

[tiffela74]

wow.......a thread based on the weather thats not bemoaning and exaggerating the rain! I never thought id see the day....lol LOVE IT!
I talked to my dad up in the Forest Grove area today, said I was sitting dockside eating my lunch and it was about 75degrees....he didn't think that was so funny, since it was about 100degrees there for him and not quite so comfortable. hehe. My view beat his too.
Time to go enjoy all the cool water features around the area!!! Just dont forget to water the dogs!
Tiffany

[lovethegreen]

I hope everyone is surviving the heat and staying cool. Tiffela, it is odd - a weather thread not about the rain! I've been thinking a lot about this heat wave and it worries me that on the news and in general people seem to think it's okay to be very hot, that most residences not being with a/c isn't a crisis. I've lived in the midwest, south, northeast, and southwest and in all those places a heatwave like this is considered dangerous, lethal, and there's usually a death toll at the end of it. Usually people who are elderly or ill, often those who can't afford the electric bill to use the a/c even if they have it are the ones harmed. Not everyone is in a position to leave and go somewhere cooler. I'm wondering why I don't see this angle covered in Portland newscasts. Is this weather machismo?

[Minervah]

Usually people who are elderly or ill, often those who can't afford the electric bill to use the a/c even if they have it are the ones harmed. Not everyone is in a position to leave and go somewhere cooler. I'm wondering why I don't see this angle covered in Portland newscasts. Is this weather machismo?

That's true, all I have heard is a suggestion to check on elderly neighbors. But our heat waves don't last all that long so the authorities probably don't think it's necessary to have cooling places.

[Tesaje]

Do your houses have windows on 2 walls in each room?
Cross ventilation is how people used to live in the heat waves and survived the summers in hot areas before the invention of air conditioning - even those with high humidity. That and sleeping porches. Maybe the usual pleasant summer temps make the average house better at ventilation and natural cooling than in hotter areas that depend on air conditioning?

It is true that nationwide, excessive heat and cold kill more people than any other weather-related incident - about 5-6 time more.

[Nell Plotts]

Check current weather service forcast... they are concerned about an unseasonable storm on their computer models.

Yes, the Sound acts as a heat-pump. Cooler in summer, warmer in winter IF you are near the water. More overcast too.

[nwroots]

Yes, Portland is warmer than Seattle..and it's not just and anomaly! Portland is farther south and inland from water. Seattle is farther north and surrounded by ocean water on one side and a huge lake on the other. Seattle also has the Glacier ladden Olympics to the west and the high cascades to the east. Portland is often ten degrees warmer for a high than Seattle on many days from spring through the fall. Sometimes it is even more of a contrast..in May of 2002, I flew out of SEA where it was snowing at 37 degrees! When I landed at PDX 30 minutes later it was 60 degrees and crystal clear!!! Portland often feels tropical or desert like compared to Seattle! You see shorts and sandals in Portland 6 months out of the year...and barely even 2 months in Seattle. The colder weather in Seattle is the main reason that I cannot live there anymore.......but I can endure Portland!

[West coast at heart]

Hello everyone. I was wondering if the humidity is a problem there. My wife and I are moving to the Pacific Northwest next year and Portland is one of our choices. Humidity and the heat had not occurred to me. I live in Northern Indiana. The humidity here can make it almost unbearabe at times. If there is a lot of humidity there, how often?

Thank you,
wc@h