on the current Pacific Northwest heat wave...

Seattle, WA

We’ve been experiencing the first heat wave of summer 2022. It has been hot all over the Pacific Northwest, including the metropolitan areas of Seattle, Portland, and also, or especially so, on the east side of the Cascades Range of Washington and Oregon.

High temperatures in the Puget Sound basin have reached into the mid-90s for the past four days. In Portland, they’ve exceeded 100˚F. In the Yakima Washington / Pendelton Oregon area east of the Cascades, the maximum temperatures have well exceeded 100˚F.

It is not uncommon for the Northwest to experience summer heat waves. How do these current heat waves compare to previous ones? The followingf time-series charts show the historical maximum daily temperatures for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, Portland International Airport and the National Weather Service Station in Pendelton OR. I’ve also included Austin, TX as a reference point (mostly because they and much of the Southwest are also experiencing heat waves and were recently featured in a recent New York Times story along with the Pacific Northwest cities).

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>90˚F

The first series of charts highlight in red the typical number of days reaching or exceeding the arbitrarily chose 90˚F threshold defining a “hot” day.

Please keep in mind, for all charts shown below, we are only half way through summer 2022.

Days exceeding 90F at SeaTac Airport thru 7/29/2022.
Click to enlarge.

Days exceeding 90F at Portland International thru 7/29/2022.
Click to enlarge.

Days exceeding 90F at Pendelton, OR thru 7/29/2022.
Click to enlarge.

Days exceeding 90F at Austin, TX thru 7/29/2022.
Click to enlarge.

>100˚F

The next series of time-series charts show the same four locations, but here, the arbitrary temperature of 100˚F was chosen as the threshold for misery.