Tri-Cities heat cracks record for 2nd day in a row. And what’s that haze?
The Tri-Cities shattered a daily heat record for the second day in a row Wednesday.
At 4:20 p.m. Wednesday the temperature reached 108 degrees at the Tri-Cities Airport.
The previous record for the day, July 10, was 106 recorded in 1975.
On Tuesday the high was 109 degrees, breaking the previous record for the date of 106 set in 1905.
The worst of the heat wave may be behind the Tri-Cities, with a high several degrees lower at 100 forecast for Thursday.
But highs are expected to be in the 100s through at least Wednesday, July 17, according to the National Weather Service. They should mostly be in the low 100s, but as hot as 105 on Saturday and 104 on Sunday.
The Weather Channel, which posts a longer forecast, does not expect the highs to dip below 100 until Saturday, July 20.
That would make 15 straight days with highs in the 100s for the Tri-Cities this month.
The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning that was set to expire at 10 p.m. Wednesday. A red flag fire warning for Wednesday also was expected to expire at 11 p.m.
Hazy skies
Skies have been hazy in the Tri-Cities in recent days as fires have burned in the Northwest.
On Wednesday some of the haze may have been from the Larch Creek Fire in Wasco County, Ore., 15 miles south of The Dalles, which has burned 3,500 acres of grass, brush and timber, according to the weather service.
The Tri-Cities also has had haze at times from the Pioneer Fire 31 miles northwest of Chelan, Wash. It was estimated at 12,265 acres on Wednesday.
The Tri-Cities air quality has been rated as moderate rather than good due to the smoke at times from Monday through Wednesday, according to Washington state Department of Ecology data.
Ozone has been a more serious issue for the Tri-Cities on recent days, with enough ozone during the hottest hours of the day to be considered unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone is helpful if it’s in the Earth’s upper atmosphere, helping shield people from harmful ultraviolet radiation.
But it is harmful if it is near the ground and people are breathing it.
In the Tri-Cities, pollutants, particularly those blown by light winds from the north, dam up against the Horse Heaven Hills.
There particles bake in the sunshine on the hottest days of the summer, producing ozone, which spreads across the Tri-Cities.
This story was originally published July 10, 2024 at 5:07 PM.