The summer of 2022 hasn鈥檛 been as headline-grabbing as last summer 鈥� when temperatures during the infamous 鈥溾�� skyrocketed to 116 degrees in Portland.
But it鈥檚 been consistently hotter in many places.
At least 12 Oregon cities experienced the hottest months of July and August on record, according to Oregon State Climatologist Larry O鈥橬eill.
O鈥橬eill, also an associate professor at Oregon State University, examined average weather temperatures across the state and focused on communities with at least 50 to 60 years of consistent data.
He discovered new average-temperature records everywhere from Portland and Eugene in the Willamette Valley to Ontario and Burns in Eastern Oregon. The heat hasn鈥檛 spared the typically mild Oregon Coast, either, with Astoria experiencing its second warmest two-month period on record.
July and August ranked as the warmest or one of the warmest for many of Oregon's largest towns. Quite the turnaround from the cool, wet spring we experienced!
— Larry O'Neill (@laoneill25)
And to think, someone in June predicted this would be a year without a summer in Oregon.
鈥淲e鈥檙e just continuing this trend of every single summer seems to be setting temperature records,鈥� O鈥橬eill said.
While 2022 has seen its share of , O鈥橬eill said average temperatures are rising because of steady, unrelenting heat during the day without much relief at night.
O鈥橬eill said one factor is a. Warmer ocean water off the coast generally means more humidity in Western Oregon, and that moisture tends to trap heat at night.
O鈥橬eill said this summer鈥檚 heat represents a shift from spring, which was generally cooler and wetter than normal throughout much of the state.
He noted that climate change is creating a sort of 鈥渨hipsaw effect鈥� when it comes to Oregon鈥檚 weather, and Portland is a case in point. He noted that last year鈥檚 record-smashing 鈥渉eat dome鈥� was followed by a , one of the wettest springs on record and then this summer鈥檚 record averages.
While it鈥檚 difficult to link any individual weather event to climate change, climate change does make these kinds of swings more likely.
He said the growing unpredictability is especially hard on the state鈥檚 agricultural producers and creates risks for Oregon鈥檚 water supply. He said rising temperatures create more variability in the climate, which can lead to longer droughts alongside more intense precipitation.
鈥淭hese 500-year flooding events that we鈥檙e seeing now across the world will very likely happen here at some point in the future,鈥� O鈥橬eill said.
The average two-month temperature at Portland International Airport was 74 degrees. That鈥檚 the most that the monitor has registered since at least 1938.
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