Seattle area could see historic heatwave this weekend
A sunny Saturday at Gas Works Park in Seattle in May 2021. (MyNorthwest Photo)
After hitting 90 degrees on Monday, parts of the Puget Sound region will likely see temperatures in the mid to high 90s this weekend, with a three-digit chance.
Check the weather forecast
Before we hit the peak of the weekend heat wave, it is expected to cool down a bit on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. During this period, temperatures are expected to be between 77 and 80 degrees before climbing back into the mid-80s on Friday.
According to the National Weather Service in the Seattle and Olympia region, the region will heat up to “potentially dangerous levels” by Saturday and Sunday. That will see highs in the Seattle area of between 95 and 97 degrees and possibly even warmer by the end of the weekend.
Good morning from the forecast desk. Tracking Potentially Dangerous Heat Levels This Weekend. The closer it gets, the more precisely the forecast is refined.
For the time being, highs in the 90s up to almost 100 ° are expected in Seattle – Olympic area: Saturday and Sunday # wawx
– NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) June 22, 2021
“Values of 100 are out of the question for some locations on Sunday and maybe again on Monday,” predicts the NWS.
Historically, Seattle has only experienced 100 degrees Celsius once in June, on June 9, 1955. The record for June 25 (this Saturday) is 98 degrees, which is also the second warmest day in June for the city.
Up and down the west coast, this is all part of what University of Washington climatologist Cliff Mass calls a “mind-boggling” prediction.
“Several of the global models predict an exceptionally unusual heat wave in the Pacific Northwest this weekend,” said Mass in a recent blog post. “A heat wave so extreme that many places could experience their warmest temperature on record.”
“The predictions are just insane,” he added.
Mass points to possible weekend temperatures of 121 degrees in the northern Central Valley in California, up to 115 degrees in the Columbia Basin, 105 degrees in the Willamette Valley and around 95 degrees in the Seattle area. Should any of these areas on the west coast reach this level, it could represent a historic heatwave for the entire region.
However, there are some caveats to this. According to Mass, very little of this is set in stone, due to “tricky” interactions between a tropical disturbance in the western Pacific and the jet stream.
“Slight changes in the amplitude of the disturbance and where it meets the jet stream can lead to large changes in the formation and movement of the jet stream waves,” he said. “That creates great uncertainty.”
Mass believes forecasters will have a better idea of what’s to come this weekend by Wednesday.