It’s So Hot That . . .
There have already been significant hot spells throughout the country this summer . . . but the Pacific Northwest is in the middle of a historic heatwave right now. Here’s a quick rundown . . .
1. It’s so hot that Salem, Oregon . . . southwest of Portland . . . reached 117 degrees yesterday, which is a record for the city. In Portland, it was 115 yesterday. 115 is the highest temperature ever recorded there since historical records began in 1940.
Portland’s average high temperature for this time of year is about 73 degrees.
2. It’s so hot that Seattle also broke a record for the highest temperature ever recorded there: 107 degrees. And there are excessive heat warnings for much of Washington and Oregon, as well as parts of California, Idaho, and Nevada.
3. It’s so hot that Canada now has a new national record for highest all-time temperature on record: Lytton, British Columbia hit 118 degrees yesterday.
(Here’s an amusing video of a Canadian man talking about how locals are even seeing HEAT TOURISTS coming down from northern parts of Canada.)
4. It’s so hot in Washington state that roads are buckling. (And another pic.)
5. It’s so hot in Portland that transit power cables are melting. And people are sharing photos of how tar is melting off train tracks.
6. It’s so hot in Portland that the vinyl siding is blistering off houses.
7. It’s so hot that one person decided to bake cookies. In their CAR. Another person cooked mini tacos in theirs . . . and another fried an egg on a picnic table.
8. It’s so hot that there was a major run on ice cream at the store. And dip.
9. It’s so hot in Portland that on Sunday, it was hotter than about 99.8% of Earth.
10. OregonLive.com put out a list of 10 “notoriously hot places around the world where it was cooler than Portland yesterday,” and it included Las Vegas, Phoenix, Cairo, and Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
This is all due to something called a “heat dome,” and it was created when the atmosphere trapped hot ocean air like a lid or cap.
Some areas will start getting relief today, but the cooling process will happen very gradually. And other regions still haven’t hit their peak.
(New York Times / Weather.com)
