Seattle hits record high as heat wave doesn’t let up

Government officials, wildlife managers and utility workers across the Pacific Northwest were trying to keep people and animals safe as a historic heat wave scorched the region Saturday.

Seattle reached 99 degrees by mid-afternoon Saturday, making it the hottest June day on record, according to the National Weather Service.

Other cities and towns from eastern Washington state to Portland to southern Oregon were also expected to break records, with temperatures in many areas expected to top out up to 30 degrees above normal.

It’s a dangerous forecast for a region accustomed to mild weather, and where many people don’t have air conditioning.

The hot weather had berry farmers scrambling to pick crops before they rot on the vine and fisheries managers working to keep endangered sockeye salmon safe from toowarm river water.

Stores sold out of portable air conditioners and fans, some hospitals canceled outdoor vaccination clinics, cities opened cooling centers, baseball teams canceled or moved up weekend games, and utilities braced for possible power outages.

Officials in Multnomah County, Oregon were asking for volunteers to help staff cooling centers as older people, homeless residents and others struggled with the heat. Cascades Street Outreach, an advocacy group for people experiencing homelessness, was going to homeless camps in the region to encourage people to use the cooling centers.

Peter Tiso, who works with Multnomah County’s Joint office of Homeless Services, told the Oregonian/OregonLive.com that the Oregon Convention Center can hold about 300 people, but no one will be turned away from the cooling shelter. The shelter also allows pets, he said.

“We don’t want anyone to be making the dangerous decision between leaving their pet behind or not,” he said.

Seattle was expected to edge above 100 over the weekend, and in Portland, weather forecasters said the thermometer could soar to 108 by today, breaking an all-time record of 107 set in 1981. Unusually hot weather was expected to extend into next week for much of the region.

Seattle has only hit 100 three times in recorded history, the National Weather Service said, and there was a chance it could eclipse the record of 103 on Monday.

“If you’re keeping a written list of the records that will fall, you might need a few pages by early next week,” NWS Seattle tweeted.