Currently in Portland — June 6, 2023

The weather, currently.

Tuesday is shaping up to be a hot and sunny day! We're going to be back in the 90s on Tuesday, with clear skies and a bit of breeze (though perhaps not enough breeze to take the edge off the heat.) If you have a choice in the matter, try to limit outdoor activities (at least the strenous kind) to early and late. And be sure to use that sunscreen! You never know when you'll end up lingering in the sunshine a bit longer than expected (I got stuck in the sun yesterday) and it's better to be protected, just in case. Tuesday night will just barely make it back into the 50s, and the breeze will pick up to a light wind overnight.

— Stella Harris

What you need to know, currently.

It’s heatwave season in India, and this year’s cooling monsoon rains are behind schedule.

The annual arrival of the Indian monsoon rains in early June is the most important weather forecast in the world. Grain traders, railway conductors, even India’s stock market pays attention to the forecast. And as with all weather forecasts, it’s the most vulnerable people in society — like day laborers — that must endure the prolonged consequences when these precious rains fail.

When the rains are late, crops can fail, heat waves magnify, and families are thrown in to crisis. Heat waves in South Asia have recently been determined to have been made 30 times more likely due to climate change, and this year’s late monsoon is adding to the misery.

This year, the monsoon rains are delayed and far weaker than normal so far — about 5-7 days behind schedule — but initial rains arrived over the weekend in Chennai in southern India. The India Meteorological Department has a monsoon tracker that’s updated daily.

-Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

Welcome to the new-and-improved Currently!

If you’re a big fan of Currently, please share us with a friend! Our brand-new referral program is a way to give our biggest fans direct ownership of our company. We are the first weather service in the world to do this, and we’ll have much more in the coming days on our hopes and dreams for member-ownership, as well as Currently as a whole.

Thank you for taking this exciting journey with us!

—Eric Holthaus