HAPPY VALLEY, OREGON WEATHER: OCTOBER 2022
TEMPERATURES
October 2022 was one of the warmest on record in the area, especially for Maximum and Mean Temperatures. Of the three official Portland weather stations (Downtown, Airport, and Weather Forecast Office), the Average Maximum Departures ranged from +5.4° to +7.5°. October was also rainless through the first 20 days in Portland before receiving sufficient rains to bring totals to near the monthly Normals.
Here in Happy Valley, three days reached Maximum Temperatures of ≥80° (highest being the 82.6° on the 2nd), including 11 days of ≥70°, all occurring prior to the 17th. Maxima remained in the 60s from the 17th-20th but could only manage the low-to-mid 50s the remainder of the month, bringing the monthly average down considerably from the record-warm beginning.
Minimum Temperatures varied by 18.7°, ranging from 59.4° on the 2nd to 40.7° on the 27th. Only 2 Minimum Temperatures in the first half of the month fell to ≤50°, and those just barely. Even with the cool weather through the second half of the month, this still couldn’t balance out the record-warm weather in the month’s first half.
Splitting the month in two, the Max/Min/Mean Temperatures for October showed quite a disparity: 1st-16th: 75.0°/54.4°/64.7°; 17th-30th: 57.8°/46.7°/52.2°. The Maximum Diurnal range was 26.2° (81.5°/55.3°) on the clear 16th, the least being just 4.7° (56.4°/51.7°) on the rainy 29th.
PRECIPITATION
Continuing the very dry weather since mid-June, this pattern continued through the first 20 days of October until flipping the switch from summer to autumn. At this location, just 0.01″ was recorded through these first three weeks of October before significant and welcome rain began midday on the 21st. Prior to this, a total of only 0.81″ was recorded beginning on June 20th through October 20th, a period of 123 days (more than 1/3 of the year). On October 21st, for the hours 12:15-17:30, 0.64″ of rain fell, bringing relief not only for area lawns and plants but for the various wildfires affecting the PacNW. Rain continued, off-and-on, through the end of the month, allowing for lawn irrigation systems to finally be shut down for the winter. The total of 3.46″ was 74% of the Normal of 4.70″ for this location (this total through 7:00 AM on the 31st).
NOTE: Additional, significant rain fell much of the day after the 07:00 AM Observation on the 31st, with 0.82” being recorded by 22:10 Hrs, which will be included in the November report.
Maximum Precipitation Rate: 5.24″/Hour (at 17:03 Hrs on the 24th)
Maximum Calendar-Day Amount: 0.0″
≥0.25″: 4
≥0.50″: 3
≥1.00″: 1
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
Sky Cover Days: 17 Clear, 6 Partly Cloudy, and 7 Cloudy.
Barometric Pressure: Average Maximum/Minimum readings were 30.14″/29.98″, with the Highest Daily Value of 30.32” on the 29th, the Lowest Daily Reading of 29.55” on the 21st.
Relative Humidity: Maximum/Minimum Averages were 93%/64%, having a Daily Maximum of 98% on the 25th & 26th; Daily Minimum of 30% on the 16th.
Dew Point: Averages were a Maximum/Minimum of 56°/47°, with a Daily Maximum of 64° on the 6th & 7th, Daily Minimum of 39° on the 27th.
Wind: The Daily Average Speed was 0.8 MPH from the SW, and the highest Daily Average was 2.0 MPH from the N on the 1st; the Daily Average Gust was 10.4 MPH and the Highest Gust reached 19 MPH from the SE on the 25th.
HAPPY VALLEY MONTHLY WEATHER FORM: OCTOBER 2022 (click the month to access a pdf of the form).
For the three official Portland National Weather Service weather stations, here are some facts and rankings for each location for OCTOBER 2022:
Through the first 20 days of October 2022, the 3 official Portland stations were well-above Normal temperature-wise, especially on the Max. Temp. side and no measurable precipitation fell.
Portland – Downtown (currently at KGW-TV) – Period of Record: since 1/1871
Portland International Airport (PDX) – Period of Record: since 11/1940
Portland – National Weather Service Forecast Office (WFO) – Period of Record: since 4/1996
This October’s Departures from Normal for Max/Min/Mean Temperatures were, by far, the most extreme for the period 10/1 to 10/20:
– PDX Airport: +12.6°/+4.3°/+8.5°
– Downtown: +11.5°/+5.4°/+8.5°
– WFO: +10.0°/+3.3°/+6.6°
Post 10/20: Subsequent cool weather over the final 11 days quickly brought down these averages but the month still remained well-above Normal. These are the final monthly Departures from Normal:
– PDX Airport: +7.5°/+4.2/+5.8° (#1 warmest Average Maximum (tying 1987); #3 warmest Average Minimum (#1 is 52.1° in 2014); #1 warmest Mean at 61.4° (besting the 60.1° in 2015)).
– Downtown: +5.4°/+2.8°/+4.0° (#3 warmest Average Maximum (behind 72.3 in 1952 and 70.1 in 1987) ; #7 warmest Average Minimum (#1 being 52.6° in 2014); #2 warmest Mean (only behind 62.0° from 1952)).
– WFO: +6.5°/+3.6/+5.1° (#1 warmest Average Maximum (beating 58.1° in 2015); #6 warmest Average Minimum (#1 is 51.1° in 2014); #4 warmest Mean (but just behind the 59.4° in 2015, 59.3° in 2014, and 59.1° in 2003)).
Additional Portland Stations’ Observations:
– PDX: Recorded, by far, its greatest number of October Maximums ≥80° with 12 such days, obliterating the previous record of 6 days set in several past years – 1991, 1980, and 1952. This was also only the 3rd time that PDX has had an Oct. Avg Max. ≥70° and Mean ≥60°.
– Downtown: Barely beat its previous record of October days ≥80° with 8 occurrences, besting the 7 days from 1952 but Downtown has a much longer period of record.
– WFO: The shorter-term WFO also set its new October record with 9 days ≥80°, surpassing the previous record of 4 days from 2014.
Cover photo: Sunrise 2022-10-24.