How Weird Is Portland's Warm Sunny Weather?

The dry, warm winter continues. Outdoor guide and lifelong Oregonian Norther Emily talked to City Cast Portland podcast host Claudia Meza recently about climate change and Portland’s weird weather:

We often hear lifelong Portlanders say it used to get so much colder during the winter, but you actually think they're wrong, and I need to know your logic.

“The thing about living in Portland is that we are basically at sea level here, and there's a lot of variability in the type of winter weather that we can have.

“We're actually getting hit pretty hard in terms of climate change compared to some other areas. But we've had like a two-degree increase over the last 70 years. So when people say that it's getting warmer — yes. And this is also still within the range of normal for this area.”

This is normally prime skiing and snowshoeing season, and we barely have any snow up on Mount Hood. I looked it up and multiple locations on the mountain are reporting record-low snowpacks.

“ The snowpack situation is something entirely different. That's a nightmare. It's a problem that we can expect to watch escalate, too. We're gonna lose probably 25% of our snowpack in, like, the next 20 years.

“It's a super big deal that we're not getting snow in the mountains, 'cause that's where our drinking water comes from. Here in Portland, all of our water comes from the Bull Run (that's snow) — and aquifers.”

Is it time to freak out about climate change?

“ Here's the thing about that. This applies to all of the things I think that are happening both nationally and across the world that we have big feelings about. There's never a good time to be emotional about things that are facts. Emotions are an excellent data point that can help guide our information. But the time to freak out is never; please keep your act together right now. Sorry.“