116 in Portland? Region sizzling

SEATTLE — The hottest day of an unprecedented and dangerous heat wave scorched the Pacific Northwest on Monday, with temperatures obliterating records that had been set just the day before.

Seattle hit 108 degrees Fahrenheit by evening — well above Sunday’s alltime high of 104. Portland, Ore., reached 116 after hitting arecord 112 on Sunday.

The temperatures were unheard of in a region better known for rain, and where June has historically been referred to as “Juneuary” for its cool drizzle. Seattle’s average high in June is around 70, and fewer than half of the city’s residents have air conditioning, according to U.S. Census data.

The heat forced schools and businesses to close to protect workers and guests, including some places like outdoor pools and ice cream shops where people seek relief from the heat. COVID19 testing sites and mobile vaccination units were out of service as well.

In Portland, light rail and street car service was suspended as power cables melted and electricity demand spiked.

Heatrelated expansion caused pavement to buckle or pop loose in many areas, including on Interstate 5 in Seattle. Workers in Seattle were hosing down drawbridges with water at least twice a day to prevent the steel from expanding in the heat and interfering with their opening and closing mechanisms.

Orchardists in central Washington tried to save their cherry crops from the heat, using canopies, deploying sprinklers and sending out workers in the night to pick.

The heat wave stretched into British Columbia, with the temperature in Lytton reaching 115 Sunday, an alltime high in Canada.