Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Port Orford is a small community near the southern tip of Oregon. A small community with less than 2,000 residents, their claim to fame is living in the banana belt of Oregon where temperatures are quite mild compared to the rest of the state. Some residents claim that temperatures in the 60's and 70's in January and July are common. See Port Orford's Current Conditions and gauge the weather for yourself. The Topography of the area creates a diverse terrain with the steep slopes and heavily wooded terrain where the warm winds of California mix with the cooler, moist air of the pacific northwest. In the winter when rain and clouds are likely for most of the Oregon coast, the southern coast of Oregon experiences consistent mild, sunny days. Something known as the "Brookings Effect"has been known for the divergence of wind ultimately creating a 'gap' in weather systems being generated in the Pacific Ocean. Notice in the jet stream prediction model here how Port Orford at just south of 43 degrees North Latitude is far enough south to miss the main current. The micro climate variability is what seems to provide the area with unusually nice weather. As Port Orford is on the coast, the weather is obviously going to be more maritime but will have some effects of continentality because of warmer California winds. Given these factors, the area should have an approximate Bowen ratio of 0.6.

Sources: http://www.loudplanet.com/ and http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-brookings-effect.htm

 
Mean Monthly Temperatures


JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
Mean max55.45656.658.661.965.16868.668.364.657.654.861.3
Mean min40.941.441.643.14649.351.452.150.847.343.440.745.7
Mean temp48.248.749.150.95457.259.760.459.65650.547.853.5
Extreme max737773808185838810291767285
Extreme min23212930313540414031291616


Annual Extremes


JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAnnual
Max 90 or more0000000000000
Min 32 or less2.81.80.80.3000000.10.72.27.4
Max 32 or less000000000000.10.1
Min 0 or less0000000000000
        


Check the daily Port Orford Satellite images here.
Check Wundermaps daily weather facts and weather here.

GEEBIT:
A.  A decrease in albedo by .1 for an albedo of -0.1 changes the absorbed energy on the surface of the planet to an average of 375.97 and a maximum of 1503.89. This creates an increase in energy absorbed to the surface of the planet. This also creates an increase in temperature to 43.9 degrees F from 41.9 degrees. An increase in Albedo to 0.1 reduces the energy absorbed to an average of 307.61 and a maximum of 1230.46. This also decreases the temperature of the planet to 28.8 degrees F.

B.  Changing the greenhouse factor to 1.1 increases the energy reached to an average of 526.5 and a maximum of 2106.2. This increase elevates the temperature to 99.1 degrees F. Decreasing to 0.9 changes the energy absorbed average to 486.7 with a maximum of 1946.9 and a temperature of 88.2 degrees F.

C.  Respectively, these changes would not be as dramatic as they would be closer to the equator and inland on the mid latitudes as the climate is typically more mild already. They would increase temperatures dramatically though raising them as much as 40 degrees with an increased greenhouse factor. Reducing the earth's albedo to that similar to Mercury's would be devastating. Reducing the amount of energy absorbed would dramatically affect the warmth of the planet. Being next to the ocean, Port Orford would experience less dramatic shift in temperatures than a location that is more inland, as it does now.





4 comments:

  1. Dan I've read every word you've written on Oregon's banana belt and am curious if you have an email address or other contact information as I'd love to pick your brain on some questions I have about the area.

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  2. I am looking into buying a property along the coast to use as a family retreat/vacation area and I would love to come in and plant a low-maintenance food forest. We live on the DRY side of the mountain (7 inches of rain per year), so getting to grow things on the wet side of the mountain intrigues me.

    I was mostly curious how the climate north of Port Orford compared to the climate in the "banana belt". Is it really all that different?

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    Replies
    1. Tyler-

      I am not sure how further north you are talking about. What I would suggest is getting your hands on a topo map (http://store.usgs.gov/b2c_usgs/usgs/maplocator/(xcm=r3standardpitrex_prd&layout=6_1_61_48&uiarea=2&ctype=areaDetails&carea=%24ROOT)/.do) and look at the physical features of the area you are considering. The basic premise of this 'banana belt' is the warm winds coming north from the deserts of CA. Assuming there is not a lot of topography to change these winds (things like large mountain ranges) then it should not be too different from the things I mention here.

      The caveat is going to be the annual differences from the el nino and la nina winds in the pacific and how they impact the coast. Take the north eastern seaboard for example, this year alone they have seen everything from large snow fall, hurricanes and unusually long heat spells. One of these events in and of itself is not too unusual but the combination is what makes it interesting. As such, the climate of a particular area (yes, even micro-climate areas) is too take a broad look at it over several years. I would suggest keeping an eye on this site (http://www.weather.gov/) and find all the historical data you can and come up with a conclusion for yourself.

      Unfortunately there is not a lot of published and proven data about this 'banana belt' but there is some. Test your googling schools and see what you can find - but take careful note of the publisher as there are a lot of people out there that think they are weather professionals. Not as widely known is the fact that in areas like this, topography can play a large role.

      Best

      Dan Walsh

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  3. Thanks Dan! I definitely appreciate your time responding to this! I'll definitely look at the historical climate averages for the areas we are interested in.

    Basically we can assume that Brookings and Port Orford are going to be warmer than Newport and Lincoln City. I had just never known that this was because of the winds blowing up from California instead of simple latitude differences.

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