Portland's Air Conditioner season 2010 (apartment, how much, house)

[philwithbeard]

Tomorrow, August 24, the Portland temperature is expected to reach 90 degrees F.

Since this sub-forum for Portland OR has had a few questions about Air Conditioner usage in PDX, I have put together a small bit of information from NOAA web site:

(This presumes that A/C is useful when the outdoor temperature is 88 degrees, or higher.)
June
No days

July
7/7 Max = 95 Min = 57, diff = 38
7/8 Max = 97 Min = 63, diff = 34
7/9 Max = 94 Min = 61, diff = 33
7/25 Max = 89 Min = 59, diff = 30
7/26 Max = 89 Min = 59, diff = 30

August
8/13 Max = 94 Min = 59, diff = 35
8/14 Max = 98 Min = 61, diff = 37
8/15 Max = 97 Min = 62, diff = 35
8/16 Max = 96 Min = 60, diff = 36
8/17 Max = 91 Min = 61, diff = 30
and expected
8/24 90 59 30
With remainder of August below 80 degrees.

Historically (40 years averaged) there are 2.1 days over 90 degrees During the Month of September in PDX.

That makes it 11 days an air conditioner would have been useful in PDX, with an expected rise to 13 days by end of September. But then again, the difference between the Max temp and the Min temp was at least 30 degrees, still made for comfortable sleeping weather somewhere after midnight.

(Aside: there is a reason I am not including summer of 2009 data.)

Yes, I know, Too Much Information.

Phil

[Sprightly]

Not TMI at all, quite interesting Phil. A/C is an issue near and dear to my heart. Part of what complicates the question of how much AC a person needs is how much their building retains heat. It may be cool enough outside after midnight to sleep, but inside the heat may still be radiating. Or if someone is on a top floor they may get a hot house effect making an eighty degree far worse than if they are in a basement apartment. Same issues if one is facing E, W, N, or S. So hmmm what was my point...that some people may need A/C for more days than you listed and some lucky folks less.

[puerco]

Yes, Phil, interesting facts. I can sure remember some very hot days & nights while growing up in Portland. Thank God my folks had a sleeping porch off of our bedroom. Unfortunately it faced west so even it was too hot until about 10pm. We're getting up to 90F here in the city. We've waited months for some summer weather & now we're getting it big time. It was in the 90's when I visited Portland last week and I loved it.

[khyron]

Originally Posted by philwithbeard

That makes it 11 days an air conditioner would have been useful in PDX, with an expected rise to 13 days by end of September. But then again, the difference between the Max temp and the Min temp was at least 30 degrees, still made for comfortable sleeping weather somewhere after midnight.

(Aside: there is a reason I am not including summer of 2009 data.)

Yes, I know, Too Much Information.

Phil

I don't think that's TMI at all, especially when you consider that for many (not all) people, during an average work week there are at least five days where they don't spend any of those peak cooling hours in their home. So, in many cases, if you don't have kids or pets (or web servers, heh) in your domicile that need comfort all day long, it might hardly matter at all.

[PNW-type-gal]

I ran the A/C a bit more than that, not because I was hot, but because there were a few things I was very allergic to and I couldn't open the windows when they were in bloom, but I still needed the air to circulate in the house.