Extreme Heat Incoming. Rainier quake swarm continues but eases. New Blazer debuts tonight.

Friday update here!

Friday's here, friends! Today is July 11, 2025. Portland's weather delivers a ten-degree warmup with highs knocking on 90 today and tomorrow, low 90s Sunday, mid 80s on Monday... and then, ugh, near 100 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Sunrise 5:33 AM, sunset 8:58 PM, twilight until 9:35. The post-solstice celestial trend is nibbling away at the supply of sunlight—at a rate, now, of a minute a day.

We need to factor into our planning for next week that the National Weather Service has issued an Extreme Heat Watch for Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday evening, when "dangerously hot conditions with temperatures between 95 and 105 degrees are possible." It applies to the Greater Portland/Vancouver Metro, Western and Central Columbia River Gorge, the Corbett area and the Hood River Valley, Lower Columbia River and Cowlitz River Valleys, and Central Willamette Valley.

Fire danger is off the charts, and it doesn't help that a man intentionally set three fires yesterday in the tall grass along the bluff area that overlooks Swan Island and the Willamette River. Firefighters quickly doused the flames while alerting police to a 41-year-old man who is now jailed (I checked the inmate roster) on three felony first-degree arson charges. As the official news release puts it, "Had PF&R crews been unable to stop this fire quickly, the impact of the area could have been quite significant."

It's Day Four of Mt. Rainier's biggest seismic outbreak in at least 15 years, with small quakes coming since early Tuesday morning, though at a decreasing rate. As the Cascades Volcano Observatory puts it, "This swarm now surpasses the 2009 swarm in terms of magnitude, total events, event rate, and energy release…There is currently no indication that the swarm is associated with magmatic unrest."

The new and (everyone hopes) improved Portland Trail Blazers begin Summer League play against Golden State tonight at 8 on ESPN2. It'll be our first look at first-round draft pick Yang Hansen. Our town could fall in love with this guy. Hope so.

Tomorrow is the 103rd anniversary of the birth of Mark Hatfield, a principled public servant whose experience in war made him a relentless advocate for peace.

The venerable Oregon Country Fair, that 1969-rooted, three-day festival of music, art, food, peace, love, and creative expression, opens today in Veneta, along the Long Tom River west of Eugene. Woodsier than Woodstock, but with the same countercultural vibe, is how it's described. The Grateful Dead performed there twice. These days it's family-friendly, free of drugs and alcohol, but we hear that during setup last weekend, a 31-year-old volunteer was arrested for "secretly recording naked people."

Music history! Fifty years ago today, an established bluesy British band that reinvented its sound with a young American guitar virtuoso and his (self-described) hippie poet girlfriend debuted their new lineup with an album titled simply, Fleetwood Mac, and everything changed. Favorite tracks? “Rhiannon,” “Landslide,” “Say You Love Me,” and “Over My Head” are still in hot rotation on rock radio half a century later, but to me, Christine McVie's "Warm Ways" and Stevie Nicks' "Crystal" represent songwriting at its subtle and delicate best. And Rumours was yet to come.

This being 7/11... guess where you can find free Icees today? They come in Cherry... Blue Raspberry... and Mountain Dew Infinite Swirl.

Tomorrow is the day of the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show and the Mississippi Street Fair. So much going on!

It's National Swimming Pool Day. I'm all in! Just yesterday I skimmed across the blue surface for 30 swift and easy laps. Today, I'm on a break, but on pretty much any day, you can find me in the Stafford Hills pool—or in its cafe, snacking on a cookie and latte, and writing the Drip.

What are you up to?? You’re invited to join the chat over on Facebook.