Just a week into summer and the Pacific Northwest is ready to throw in the towel — or whatever it is you do when you’re being baked like a Sunday casserole.
Portland, Oregon, has already broken a 2003 record for most days in June with temperatures at least 90 degrees — seven days. Forecasters predict Sunday’s temperature will peak at 88.
But there were plenty of records to go around on Saturday. In Oregon, Medford hit 104. Roseburg topped at 101.
In Washington, Pasco maxed out at 111. Walla Walla hit 109 and Yakima made it to 108.
Temperatures will continue to be 20 degrees above average in this region of the country, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.
The heat wave will penetrate well inland, to the Mountain states, where temperatures could hit 100 degrees or more in Utah, Nevada, Montana and Idaho.
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: LaCrosse and Chief Joseph Dam each hit 106 degrees, and Omak and Wenatchee Airport reached 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.
In the center of the country, there was a slight chance of severe thunderstorms Sunday across portions of Iowa, Kansas,Missouri and Illinois.
Isolated tornadoes and hail are possible threats, forecasters said.
And more rain was predicted for the Gulf Coast and the Northeast.