Thunderstorms in Portland are rare, but not unheard of, particularly in the spring. On average, there’s one thunderstorm a month from March to September, KOIN reported recently.
When the ground is warm and the air up above is cool, there can be conditions for thunderstorms, says Miles Higa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland. “During the spring, we get more sunshine to warm the ground,” says Higa.
In other parts of the country, summer thunderstorms are near-daily occurrences. In Portland, there simply is no rain much of the time. In the fall it’s often too cloudy to warm up the ground temperature.
When I spoke to Higa, there were thunderstorms in the Cascades that the Weather Service was monitoring. But closer to home, in the metro area, we’ve seen at least two such storms in the last 10 days.
Last week, on Thursday, the National Weather Service in Portland recorded 300 lightning strikes. Then on Monday, a thunderstorm hung out over Southwest Portland.
