Though only six days old, summer is wasting no time and continued Saturday to bake the Northwest, threatening a second day of record-setting 100-degree-plus temperatures even as the region reels from drought.
A stretch of coast between Seattle and Portland is forecast to roast in temperatures between 110 and 115 degrees, though Seattle itself should be in the 90s, according to CNN meteorologists.
Portland has already tied a 2003 record for most days in June with temperatures at least 90 degrees — six days — and it should break that record on Saturday, said CNN meteorologist Sean Morris
The heat wave will penetrate inland, to the Mountain West, where thermometers could hit 105 degrees in interior Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada and a far northwest corner of California.
Among communities expecting record heat are Portland; Boise, Idaho; Yakima, Washington; and Spokane, Washington, according to forecasters.
The National Weather Service predicted a “very hot weekend in store for much of the western US,” the agency tweeted. “Stay cool and beat the heat.”
In fact, record highs are expected over the next few days across the Northwest, and heat warnings are posted throughout the West for the first full weekend of summer, forecasters said.
That means a threat of fire, so red flag warnings are waving from the Northwest coast to the Sierras as officials fear thunderstorms could spark wildfires, meteorologists said.
On Friday, numerous areas in Washington state set new record highs for June 26: La Crosse and Chief Joseph Dam each hit 106 degrees and Omak and Wenatchee Airport 102 degrees. Waterville, the highest incorporated town in the state at 2,622 feet above sea level, broke a record set in 1896 on Friday when temperatures hit 97, the National Weather Service said.
Meanwhile, “virtually 100%” of the Pacific Northwest remains abnormally dry or in a drought, the National Integrated Drought Information System says.
On the other side of the country, severe thunderstorms are predicted to rip across parts of the Appalachians to the Atlantic seaboard.
Isolated tornadoes and hail are possible threats, forecasters said.
Also, heavy rains have prompted flash flood watches in much of the Ohio Valley to Pennsylvania and New England for Saturday.