Currently in Portland — June 23, 2023: Friday is bringing some excitement back to the skies, with rain, lightening, and thunder. But the weekend will be warm and calm.

The weather, currently.

Apparently, Friday heard I was excited about calm weather this weekend and decided to act up. Although temps will still reach the 80s, we're going to see some rain mid-day, followed by a chance of more thunder and lightning in the evening. So if your weekend plans involve outdoor adventures on Friday, be sure to stay safe! Luckily Saturday and Sunday are still looking warm and calm with high temps hanging out in the high 70s and low 80s. Overnight temps will be pretty mellow, too, cooling only to the low to mid-50s. So maybe scoot your plans back by a day to stay dry and safe on Friday, and save your adventuring for the weekend!

— Stella Harris

What you can do, currently.

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What you need to know, currently.

Atlantic Ocean water temperatures continue to be completely off the charts.

These unusually warm temperatures — across the whole of the North Atlantic Ocean — are far outside historical norms. In fact, the current departure into record territory is about 0.35°C above the warmest temperatures ever previously measured. That’s about a decade’s worth of warming, all happening at once.

Such a shock to the ocean is obviously having profound effects on the weather. Right now, there are two tropical cyclones in the core of the tropical Atlantic. In no previous June, since records have been kept starting in 1851, have there been two tropical-storm strength cyclones in the month of June, let alone simultaneously.

This should be the front-page news — with the added outrageous fact that fossil fuel executives are continuing to make our planetary emergency even worse.

—Eric Holthaus