Pacific Northwest Braces for Another Multiday Heat Wave

PORTLAND, ORE. - People in the Pacific Northwest braced for another major, multi-day heat wave starting Wednesday, just more than a month after record-shattering hot weather killed hundreds of the region's most vulnerable when temperatures soared to 47 Celsius (116 degrees Fahrenheit). 

In a "worst-case scenario," the temperature could reach as high as 44 C (111 F) in some parts of western Oregon by Friday before a weekend cooldown, the National Weather Service in Portland, Oregon, warned this week. It's more likely temperatures will rise above 38 C (100 F) for three consecutive days, peaking around 40.5 C (105 F) on Thursday.  Those are eye-popping numbers in a usually temperate region and would have come close to — or broken — all-time records if it weren't for the late June heat wave, meteorologist Tyler Kranz said. Seattle will be cooler than Portland, with temperatures in the mid-90s, but it still has a chance to break records, and many people there, as in Oregon, don't have air conditioning.  “We’ll often hear people say, ‘Who cares if it’s 106 or 108? It gets this hot in Arizona all the time.’ Well, people in Arizona have air conditioning, and here in the Pacific Northwest, a lot of people don't,” Kranz said. “You can't really compare us to the desert Southwest.”