Northwest heat wave builds, records fall

PORTLAND, Ore. — Intense. Prolonged. Recordbreaking. Unprecedented. Abnormal. Dangerous.

That’s how the National Weather Service described the historic heat wave hitting the Pacific Northwest, pushing daytime temperatures into the triple digits, disrupting Olympic qualifying events and breaking all-time high temperature records in places unaccustomed to such extreme heat.

Portland, Oregon, reached 112 degrees Fahrenheit Sunday, breaking the alltime temperature record of 108 which was set just a day earlier.

In Eugene, Oregon, the U.S. track and field trials were halted Sunday afternoon and fans were asked to evacuate the stadium due to extreme heat. The National Weather Service said it hit 110 in Eugene, breaking the all-time record of 108.

Oregon’s Capital city, Salem, also recorded the highest temperature in its history on Sunday: 112, breaking the old mark by 4 degrees.

The temperature hit 104 in

Seattle. The NWS said that was an all-time record for the city better known for rain than heat and was the first time the area recorded two consecutive triple digit days since records began being kept in 1894.

Records were being broken across the region, and the sizzling temperatures were expected to get even hotter Monday before beginning to cool Tuesday.

There were also some power outages. Portland General Electric said about 3,000 customers were without electricity in the greater Portland area Sunday afternoon. Puget Sound Energy reported 3,400 customers down in the greater Seattle area.

The heat wave stretched into British Columbia, with the temperature in Lytton, a village in the province, reaching 115 Sunday afternoon, marking a new all-time high recorded in Canada.

It got so hot in Seattle Sunday the city parks department closed a community pool in the southern portion of the city because of “unsafe, dangerous pool deck temperatures.”