It was a very dry and record-warm August in Happy Valley.

TEMPERATURES: August started out very hot with two consecutive days exceeding 100° (2nd & 3rd), with the month’s maximum on the 2nd hitting 101.3°. Though quite hot for this area, these maximum temperatures were likely somewhat suppressed due to rather thick wildfire smoke blowing down from British Columbia and northern Washington. There were seven total days reaching ≥90°, five of which were ≥95°, including the two that exceeded 100°. On the other side, 10 days managed to stay ≤80°, with three of these ≤75°. With so many clear days, minimum temperatures cooled nicely all month. All but two days fell to ≤65° and 21 days dropped to ≤60°. The coolest days were 12th-14th and 23rd-25th when maximums stayed in the 70s. The diurnal range averaged 26.5°, with the maximum being 37.3° on the 2nd and the minimum of 15.8° on the 13th, the only day with measurable rain and the month’s only cloudy day.

Average Maximum Temperature: 85.1°

Average Minimum Temperature: 58.6°

Mean Temperature: 71.8°

Highest Maximum Temperature: 101.3° (2nd)

Lowest Maximum Temperature: 70.9° (14th)

Lowest Minimum Temperature: 49.5° (14th)

Highest Minimum Temperature: 68.2° (3rd)

The solar eclipse occurred in the later morning of August 21, reaching 99.6% of totality at this location. Under fully clear skies, the eclipse began around 9:05 A.M. The temperature stopped its typical morning rise and started leveling off at around 9:15 A.M., peaking at 66.5°F. at 9:58 A.M., then began dropping until 10:44 A.M. when it reached an eclipse minimum of 63.9°F., a 2.6° decrease.

PRECIPITATION: It was another very dry month as only a single day of measurable rain occurred when 0.15″ fell on the 13th. This amount was enough to stop a consecutive-days streak with no measurable rain at 57 (starting June 17th). As of the end of August, that 0.15″ is all that has fallen over the last 75 days.

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS: Sky conditions observed were: 22 clear; 8 partly cloudy; and just 1 cloudy day. Only 2 days with fog occurred, both also being heavy (<1/4 mile visibility).

Cover photo by Jeff Taylor: Solar Eclipse Totality at Salem, Oregon on Aug. 21, 2017.