Winter has arrived in Oregon! This morning has seen sub-zero temperature readings in eastern Oregon. The temperature at the Crane Prairie RAWS site (CPFO3) east of Seneca plummeted to -15 F this morning after a high yesterday of 24 F. SE of Bend at the Horse Ridge RWIS site (ODT33) the temperature also dropped to -15 F while Meacham ASOS along I-84 in the Blue Mountains recorded a minimum temperature of -11 F.
A new low temperature record of +2 F was established in La Grande along I-84 this morning:
RECORD EVENT REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
1040 AM PST WED DEC 7 2016
...NEW DAILY RECORD LOW TEMPERATURE FOR DECEMBER 7TH...
STATION PREVIOUS NEW RECORDS
RECORD/YEAR RECORD BEGAN
LA GRANDE(CITY), OR 3 / 1978 2 1887
22 F was followed later in the day by a high of 76 F making for a diurnal range of 54 F just one day removed from the summer solstice. Less than 36 hours after dropping to 22 F the temperature climbed all the way to 83 F the next day (20 June 2016). A total of 11 RAWS sites in Oregon out of 132 total measured temperatures in the 20s yesterday morning at elevations ranging from 3231 to 5500 ft.
On 15 June 2016, 41 out of 132 RAWS sites in Oregon reported a minimum temperature at or below the freezing point (32 F) with 2 sites in Klamath and Deschutes Counties reporting 23 F. The 850 hPa temperature at Salem Oregon reached a low of -0.1 C at 12 UTC 14 June 2016. This was followed by +0.2 C the next morning at 12 UTC 15 June 2016.
Redmond Oregon reached 24 F on 15 June 2016 which tied the record low temperature for the month of June. This was the third such occurrence over the past 69 years of record.
Yesterday afternoon the vicinity of Salem was again visited by a genuine down-East rain storm, with thunder and lightning accompaniments. This is the second storm of this kind to visit this immediate section this season, and it is a remarkable fact that they are the first storms of this nature that ever made their presence know hereabouts. The memory of the oldest inhabitant retains no recollection of like storms. Many persons have seen it rain just as hard here as it did yesterday, but no such vivid flashes of lightning were ever seen here, nor was such loud and sharp thunder ever heard in the valley.
Can it be the climate is undergoing a change, or is this the exception that forms the rule? But this season is a remarkably peculiar one, anyhow. Winter held on unusually long, making a late spring, with rains well into summer. And now, in the midst of harvest, to be treated to an electric storm–well, it is an attraction not down on the bills.
