Currently in Portland — August 23, 2023: Warming back up

The weather, currently.

After a brief reprieve (marred by smoke) things are warming back up. We’ll still get some clouds on Wednesday, especially in the morning, but temps will reach about 80 degrees. By Thursday they’re likely to jump to the 90s, so Wednesday is the last comfortable day for outdoor chores. At least with the smoke mostly gone, we’ll be able to open windows for fresh air and breeze as the temps reach uncomfortable highs later this week and weekend.

— Stella Harris

What you need to know, currently.

Drought has forced a major slowdown in ship traffic at the Panama Canal, with more than 200 ships waiting up to three weeks to cross.

In an official statement, the Panama Canal Authority said the current drought situation “has no historical precedence.”

Each crossing of the canal uses 51 million gallons of water from nearby lakes, and those lakes are running low. Panama is facing its lowest rainfall since the canal opened in 1914, worsened by climate change and a strengthening El Niño in the Pacific.

It’s not clear how long the situation could last, but some shippers have already been adding surcharges to goods passing through the canal — raising fears that the slowdown could worsen inflation globally.

—Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

The fires in Maui have struck at the heart of Hawaiian heritage, and if you’d like to support survivors, here are good places to start:

The fires burned through the capital town of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the ancestral and present home to native Hawaiians on their original unceded lands. One of the buildings destroyed was the Na ‘Aikane o Maui cultural center, a gathering place for the Hawaiian community to organize and celebrate.

If you’d like to help the community rebuild and restore the cultural center, a fund has been established that is accepting donations — specify “donation for Na ‘Aikane” on this Venmo link.