It’s about time.
After a June filled with overcast skies, the occasional downpour and a scant few sunny days worthy of outdoor pursuits, forecasters are predicting temperatures will push into the upper 80s and low 90s this week, including the Fourth of July.
Although Oregon climate and marine officials continue to sound warnings about summer drought levels, they said low water won’t affect people heading for an afternoon boat cruise on the Willamette Valley’s lakes and reservoirs.
“Some places should be in really good shape for the summer,” said Randy Henry, a spokesman for the Oregon State Marine Board. He said boating has been down during the first weeks of summer in part because of media coverage of Oregon’s dry winter that featured photos of barren ponds with rocks, sandbars and stumps protruding from the water.
But Henry said the valley’s waterways are still open for boating, and almost all lakes and reservoirs have low-water ramps specifically for these kind of situations.
He said the Blue River, Cougar and Fern Ridge waterways may become inaccessible to boaters as the summer progresses because they don’t have low-water ramps, and water levels certainly won’t rise during the next three months, but most places will remain open all summer.
Part of the reason water levels have not dipped to critical levels is June’s odd weather. Although May soaked the valley in sunshine, June was slightly wetter than average, said Chris Hannan, a manager at the Oregon Climate Service. She said the nighttime lows were especially chilly during the month as well.
Hannan said Oregon had the second driest winter on record, but June’s overcast skies mended some of the damage. Although the rain did pour occasionally last month, she said the cloudy skies helped the most because the clouds reduce evaporation. June’s mark of 5.5 inches was .5 inches less than normal for the month.

Hannan added that unseasonable weather during every season of the year is not a new phenomenon in Oregon.
“We rarely get a ‘normal’ month,” she said. “It tends to flip-flop. We aren’t setting any records on anything we haven’t seen before.”
She said Wednesday’s 90-degree predicted high is the perfect example, as the temperature will suddenly buck the recent trend of cloudy skies for Fourth of July parades, picnics and fireworks shows.
“There’s the old joke that summer in Oregon doesn’t start until July 5,” she said.
While many retreat to lakes or streams when the heat rises, plenty of people grab their towels and head for public pools.
Heather O’Leary, who works at the newly remodeled Amazon Pool, said lines could form this week as swimmers of all ages push the pool’s 1,100-person capacity limit. She suggested that people arrive between 1:30 and 1:45 p.m. to ensure they get in for the 2-5 p.m. open swim held Monday through Friday.
“Most of the time, when people have to wait, they get in eventually,” she said.
The Oregon Climate Service is reporting a chance of some clouds later in the week that could push high temperatures down into the 75-degree range.