This being my first blog with Weather Together, I am excited to share with you the weather information I obtain for Salem, Oregon. Those of you that are not familiar  with Salem, like most places we have a range in micro-climates.  

Climate

Elevation within the city limits ranges from about 120 to 800 feet (37 to 244 m). Salem contains the volcanic Salem Hills in the south and is sandwiched by the 1,000 ft. (300 m) Eola Hills directly to the west and the 600 ft. (180 m) Waldo Hills to the east. Northern and eastern Salem are less hilly. South and West Salem contain some canyons and are the hilliest areas. The coast range and the Cascades—including Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson, and on the clearest of days, Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams in Washington—can be viewed from throughout the city.

Like most of the Willamette Valley area, Salem has a Marine west coast climate (Köppen) with some distinct characteristics of the Mediterranean climate. Rain is heaviest in late fall and throughout winter, and almost all of the annual precipitation falls between October and May, with a dry season from June through September. Light snowfall occurs in winter, but major snows are rare. Mostly cloudy skies and low cloud ceilings are commonplace during the rainy season.

Salem’s mean annual temperature is 53°F (11.7°C); its annual precipitation is 39.64 inches (1,007 mm), with an average 3.5 inches (8.9cm) of snow included. However, over a quarter of years receive no snowfall. The state capital is about 47 mi (76 km) south of Portland, but actually has a lower average temperature than Portland (54.4°F or 12.4°C), due in part to the lower daily minimum temperature.

Summer Season 2018

2018 is another summer to remember in the record books. Although not the hottest summer it was the driest. Lets start out by looking at each month separately. After a very dry May, June began with light rain which came to an abrupt end on the 11th. That would be the last drop of measurable rain Salem would see for the next 90 days, which broke the record of 79 days set in 1967.

JUNE

Looking under the hood a bit deeper, June overall had an average mean temperature of  2° above average and 0.99″ of rain below normal.  Salem had 3 days in June of > 90°

Avg	77	52	64	432	68	57	0.56
Normal	74	49	62	372	130	28	1.55
Dep	3	3	2	60	-62	29	-0.99

Winds were not out the norm with a peak gust of 33 mph observed on the 17th

6.2	17	21	240	33	4
Avg Wind	Avg Gust	Avg Peak	Avg Dir	Peak Gust	Avg Sky

 

JULY

July started out with a bang ! The dry streak continued along with record breaking temperatures, setting a new record for the most >90° days in the month of July at 17 days. Overall July was well above normal with a mean temperature 5° above normal. As noted no rain fell in the month of July and there were no anomalies with the winds which remained under 30 mph.  In July there were 5 partly cloudy days, the remaining days were clear.

Avg July	88	56	72	689	11	242	0.00
Normal	82	53	68	543	30	109	0.46
Dep	6	3	5	147	-19	133	-0.46

 

August

August continued like the lazy dog days of summer. No rain and warm temperatures, to top it off smoke from wildfires in the region created air quality issues throughout the area. 11 days of >90° were recorded, August finished out at 3° above average. This would have been higher but due to smoky conditions temperatures were held down a few degrees than what was forecasted.  Again there were no wind anomalies all winds remained under 30 mph

Avg  August	85	56	70	628	9	182	0.00
Normal	82	53	68	543	25	99	0.45
Dep >	3	3	3	86	-16	83	-0.45

 

In Summary the summer of 2018 was one for the record books. There were a total of 31 days with 90° or above temperatures, a record of 90 consecutive dry days and overall above average temperatures.

 

I hope you have enjoy my blog. Please note that all comments are welcome. That’s how we learn ! See ya on the next blog.