Richland and Hanford tie all-time Washington heat record. How hot was it?

Richland and the Hanford site north of the Tri-Cities were hot enough to tie the all-time Washington state heat record Tuesday.

A high of 118 was recorded at both the Richland airport and the Hanford nuclear reservation meteorology station north of Richland, according to the National Weather Service.

That matches the state record at Ice Harbor Dam east of Pasco in August 1961.

Several places around the state recorded temperatures of 118 degrees on Tuesday. A reading near Renton is being checked by the weather service as a possible new state record.

The high there was reported at 120.

Tuesday was expected to be the peak of the current heat wave.

And while the rest of the Tri-Cities may have felt like it broke the state record Tuesday, it wasn’t as hot as the forecast. The reading at the Pasco airport fell 5 degrees short of the state record.

Another spot at Hanford may have actually been a degree hotter than the record.

A reading of 119 was recorded near the Columbia River Tuesday but it was not an official data collection site and won’t be considered for the state record.

Previously, the hottest day in the current heat wave in the Tri-Cities was 115 on Sunday, which set a new record for the community. The high Monday was 114.

Temperatures in the Tri-Cities are expected to continue to creep downward, but remain well above normal.

A high of 110 was forecast for Wednesday, dropping to 103 Thursday, 102 Friday, 104 Saturday, 102 on July 4 and 102 on Monday.

On Tuesday, the high may finally fall below the triple digits to 99, according to the weather service.

The Weather Channel, which forecasts temperatures two weeks out, predicts that Tri-Cities highs will return to the low triple digits from July 9 to 12.

Tri-Cities area electric utilities warned customers this week that rolling blackouts were a possibility as heavy demand put stress on the Bonneville Power Administration grid serving the area.

Power outages

The Tri-Cities got through Tuesday, the expected peak of the heat wave, with the electric grid operating normally.

However, thousands of Avista Utilities customers in the Spokane area lost electric service for parts of Monday and Tuesday as Avista was required to reduce electric load on its distribution system and turn off power temporarily.

The city of Richland reported two power outages to some of its electric customers on Tuesday, but they were not due to a rolling blackout to maintain the grid.

Power was lost in the Horn Rapids area due to an equipment failure, the city said about 4:50 p.m. Power was restored by about 5:25 p.m.

About 9:30 p.m. a second outage was reported due to equipment failure in the area of Spengler Street and George Washington Way. Power was restored about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday.

The equipment issues were not related to the hot weather, according to the city of Richland.

More places have opened around the Tri-Cities for people seeking relief from the heat.

The Benton Franklin Health District has posted a list of public places where people can cool down at bit.ly/TCcoolingcenters.

This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 7:31 PM.