By Gordon McCraw, Tillamook County Emergency Manager
Wednesday, June 30, 2021, 09:30am
Weather
The upper level high pressure area that gave us all the heat continues to get nudged further to the northeast as the upper level low pressure area that did the nudging continues to move northward off the coast west of Vancouver Island. This is putting us under a warm and moist southwesterly flow, the overnight low only down t 61. This has also led to a thickened marine layer giving us overcast skies this morning with some patchy mist. Despite not seeing much, if any sun today, the temperature will still make it up to 70 here, still in the 90s over in the valley. The clouds will again thicken tonight leading to some spotty light drizzle or mist again, the low around 57.
Tomorrow pretty much a carbon copy of today with mostly cloudy skies, the winds more westerly and the high back up to around 70. Plenty of clouds still tomorrow night, lows near 54.
Friday starts the holiday weekend, and we see a typical summertime pattern with weak high pressure giving us mostly sunny skies Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the 4th of July, with afternoon high temperatures in the low 70s, still in the 90s over in the valley so we will likely see the usual breezy westerly afternoon winds kicking in that die off in the evening. It looks like we keep the partly cloudy nights with lows near 54.
The pattern changes little for the start of next week with continued mostly sunny skies, highs around 71, still the partly cloudy nights, lows near 54.
COVID Changes Started Today
At 12:01am this morning, June 30, 2021, Oregon’s County Risk Level framework along with COVID-19 health and safety restrictions that were issued under Oregon’s emergency statutes, were lifted or eliminated. The Governor’s remaining emergency authority will be limited in focus to COVID-19 recovery efforts, similar to the recovery executive orders currently in place for 2020 wildfire season recovery. Also rescinded was the Governor’s executive orders for K-12 schools, higher education, and childcare which will mean a shift to a more traditional, local decision-making model for communities when it comes to serving the health and safety needs of students and children.
So currently, 69.4% of all Oregonians have received at least one vaccine shot, in Tillamook County, 64.85% have. Considering that over 90% of the hospitalizations, and at times 100% of the hospitalizations, are with unvaccinated individuals, it shows that getting the shot remains the best way to prevent getting severely ill from COVID-19 infection. If you haven’t gotten your shot yet, there are still many ways to get-r done. You can go through your health care provider and local pharmacies are also still offering the shot. In addition to this, Tillamook County Community Health Center is holding shot clinics at the Annex Office, next to the main building. Every Tuesday they offer Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson walk-in shots from 8:30am thru 11:30am. Pfizer is the shot allowed for individuals 12 and over. On Thursdays, they offer Moderna and Johnson and Johnson, also at 8:30am thru 11:30am. There are other shot clinics in the planning phase for different parts of the county. If you would like to schedule a shot with them, call 503-842-3914.