Into the Furnace

For several days now we have watched the wx charts indicate a notable heat wave coming to the PNW soon, only to see that event delayed.  Well, confidence levels are increasing for that heat-up to begin late next week.  Meanwhile, some showers and a nice cool break is likely first.  Refill time.

The weekend ahead will be warm, with weak monsoonal moisture riding north along the eastern Cascades.  Sunday should be the warmest of the next 3 days.  A rapidly moving cold front is modeled to drop in for a 'summer visit' next week, which will bring clouds, showers and much cooler temps on Tue & Wed.  Southern OR may miss any precip, but at least temps should be a bit cooler that this weekend.  Enjoy the coolness because what may be the hottest temperatures to hit the PNW since the deadly heat wave in June 2021 are looking possible mid-August.

Starting next Thu, Aug 10 a shift in the pattern will begin.  A low pressure heat-trough is modeled to build up from the desert SW & CA, ushering in the first significant heat wave of 2023.  By the weekend of Aug 12,13, temps will pop into the mid-to-upper 90s (low 100s in southern OR, east side).  Sunday will be the hottest of that weekend.  Then, the furnace gets going —

As other PNW meteorologists are now noting, various models are coming into ‘agreement’ that the week of Aug 14-18 will be scorching hot - even up into southern BC.  Temps over 100 are highly probable across much of the PNW.  We see the potential for Tue Aug 15 to present Willamette Valley temps in the 105-110 degrees.  Yikes.  While afternoon highs should drop out of triple-digit range, at times, we see the potential for 90+ degree temps to last through the weekend of Aug 19,20.  As we mentioned a week ago, the PNW rarely experiences heat waves lasting longer than 3-4 days; this one could double that.  

Patrons that may be heading out of the PNW on a mid-August vacation, be sure your garden, landscaping, pets, etc are properly cared-for in the excessive heat; more importantly, all of us need to be cognizant of elderly neighbors that have no air conditioning (over 800 folks lost their lives in the 2021 event - mostly seniors from excessive heat indoors).  We all have time to prepare, just in case models verify.

ALL of California will also be in on the extreme heat, with brown-outs a real risk to the power grids.