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This week, based on a conversation with assistant professor of geography at Portland State University Paul Loikith, we advised Portlanders to calm down about extreme heat and smoke.
But he also warned that Portland could expect to see its number of 90-degree days continue to climb. Warm days will become hot days more and more often.
Related: After a Summer of Smoke and Panic in Portland, a Local Climate-Change Scientist Says to Calm Down
New data from the Climate Impact Lab on worldwide temperature increases, analyzed by the New York Times, re-affirms that advice.
Statistics show that by the end of the century, around 2089, it will likely be common for Portland to experience 10 to 30 days of 90 degree weather each year.
Portland's temperature increase calculations are some of many included in the New York Times interactive simulation to help readers learn how much hotter their hometown's are now than the years they were born.
In Portland, data show that, on average, people born in or after 1977 experienced around five days per year of 90-plus degree weather. As of last year, that number was forecasted to be the same, increasing to around eight to 22 days of 90 degree weather by 2057.
This year, in part, Loikith says, because of weather patterns that kept cool Pacific Ocean breezes from entering the city, Portland saw a record 30 days of 90 or more degree weather.
According the the Climate Impact Lab calculations, we could expect this year's heat to become commonplace in another seven decades.
"If countries continue emitting at historically high rates, the future could look even hotter," the New York Times article warns. "The future projection shown here assumes countries will curb greenhouse gas emissions roughly in line with the world's original Paris Agreement pledges (although most countries do not appear on track to meet those pledges)."
Globally, Portland's climate change-induced heat increases are comparatively mild.
Tropical regions, the study notes, already experience more heat. Meaning, temperature changes could push places like Jakarta, Indonesia to experience 90-plus degree weather for most of the year by the end of the century.
