Currently in Portland — June 7, 2023

The weather, currently.

Wednesday will be just a skosh cooler than Tuesday and with a few more clouds in the sky. I think it's a welcome reprieve, and it's also a trend that will continue as the rest of the week and weekend cool back down to more reasonable temps. Not only is it worth staying indoors (if you can) to avoid the heat, but the air quality hasn't been great, either. So even though it's great backyard weather, there's a wood-burning ban in place, so don't throw any logs on the backyard firepit. Wednesday will hover right around 90 degrees, with just a little cloud cover and Wednesday night will make it back down to the mid-50s. Hopefully the air cooperates with it being an open-window night.

— Stella Harris

What you need to know, currently.

A brutal heatwave has sent heat index values to 125°F in Puerto Rico this week, part of a wildly amplified weather pattern that’s sending smoke pouring into the eastern United States from Canada.

A heat wave like this is made doubly dangerous by rising humidity fueled by near-record warm ocean temperatures surrounding Puerto Rico. On humid days, the temperature won’t drop as much overnight, leaving less opportunity for people to recover and cool down. At the peak of the heat on Tuesday, about 100,000 customers in Puerto Rico were without power.

To support families in Puerto Rico, consider supporting PRxPR, a mutual aid organization formed after Hurricane Maria by members of the Puerto Rican diaspora. In addition to the heatwave, this year’s hurricane season has just begun, and folks on the island could use your support.

-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