Triple-digit temperatures are about to bake large parts of the West, from Washington state to New Mexico, challenging records and exacerbating the wildfire risk. Nearly 60 large wildfires are already burning across the West, and the combination of hot temperatures and low humidity will allow blazes to run rampant throughout the weekend.
Heat alerts affecting more than 35 million people plaster weather maps, with excessive-heat warnings for interior Southern California, southwest Arizona and southern Nevada. That’s where temperatures could soar above 115 degrees.
Warnings are also in effect for the inland deserts of Oregon and Washington, where highs could reach 100 to 110 degrees. Triple digits are also possible into portions of northern and western Idaho, including the Columbia River Basin — a popular summertime hiking destination. Even a sliver of northwest Montana is under heat alerts.
“Heat will increase the risk of heat-related illnesses, especially those without effective cooling or adequate hydration,” the National Weather Service wrote.
The dry heat will affect anyone outdoors and pose a danger of rapid dehydration. Similarly, vegetation will be sapped of moisture, making more fuel for wildfires to gobble up.
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The hot temperatures and lack of moisture could help ongoing fires expand. A few dry thunderstorms — thunderstorms that spit out lightning strikes but whose rain evaporates before reaching the ground — are expected to spark new fires, too, particularly in southern Idaho and northern Nebraska.
The excessive heat is courtesy of a heat dome, or a sprawling ridge of high pressure, that brings hot, sinking air. This latest round of heat follows a scorching two-week stretch to open July in which hundreds of records were set from Washington state to Arizona. Las Vegas as well as Redding and Palm Springs in California set all-time highs of around 120 degrees.
How hot it will get
The heat will ramp up Saturday, with triple-digit temperatures spreading over the majority of the West. Then it will peak Monday and Tuesday before gradually easing. Numerous calendar-day records will probably be tied or broken.
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Saturday
- Needles, Calif. — on the Arizona border — is forecast to hit 119 degrees, tying a record set last year. Records date to 1888.
- Las Vegas is expected to tie a record of 113 degrees. Records date to 1937.
- Mount Shasta in Northern California is expected to hit 101 degrees, beating a record of 99 set in 2013. Records date to 1948.
Sunday
- Las Vegas is expected to hit 114 degrees, exceeding the record set last year.
- Boise, Idaho, is anticipated to hit 106, falling just shy of the 107-degree record set in 2005. Records date to 1875.
- In Yakima, Wash., the Weather Service is forecasting a high of 107, blowing far past the record of 102 set in 2020. Records date to 1946.
- Omak, a small town in extreme-northern Washington, is likely to approach 110 degrees. The record stands at 105 degrees, set in 1938. Data dates to 1909.
- Spokane, Wash., is expected to hit 107. The record of 103 was set in 1905. Records date to 1881.
Monday
- Palmdale, north of Los Angeles, is expected to hit 110 degrees. That surpasses a record of 109 set last year. Records date to 1931.
- Mount Shasta in California is likely to hit 97 degrees, tying a record set in 2003.
- Boise will probably fall just shy of the record of 108, set last year.
- Yakima is forecast to hit 102, also falling just short of the record of 103.
- Spokane will flirt with the record of 103.
Temperatures will remain elevated, but fall shy of records, into the midweek period.
Wildfire risk
The West’s fire season has taken off amid the relentless heat, and firefighting resources are strained.
Fifty-nine large wildfires are burning across the West, including 14 in Oregon, 11 in California, 8 in Montana, 7 in New Mexico and 5 each in Utah, Arizona and Washington.
On Thursday, the National Interagency Fire Center raised the national preparedness level to a 5 out of 5, signaling a serious drawdown on firefighting personnel and equipment.
“Significant wildland fire activity is now occurring in most geographic areas with a high potential for additional large wildland fires to emerge,” the center wrote in an update on Thursday.
Only four other years have reached preparedness level 5 this early in the season — 2002, 2007, 2008 and 2021 — according to records going back to 1990.
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An outbreak of dry lightning this past week escalated the fire situation out West, coming on the heels of the historic heat wave that left the landscape parched.
Oregon saw a flurry of wildfire ignitions over the last few days, even as several major blazes burned in the state, including the Falls Fire at more than 110,000 acres.
In California, more than 9,000 lightning strikes ignited 51 fires between Sunday and Tuesday. Several of those have taken hold, including the Trout Fire, which is burning intensely in the Sequoia National Forest in the southern Sierra.
“Lightning really has the potential to make an average or busy season into an exceptionally busy season because it can be so widespread in such a short amount of time,” said Stanton Florea, a spokesperson for the National Interagency Fire Center.
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More dry lighting is in the forecast for the coming days for the Pacific Northwest and California. And several states face above-normal fire risk into autumn.
“We know this isn’t going to end soon, so we could have eight to 10 weeks or longer of a high level of fire activity across the U.S.,” Florea said.
The heat is especially challenging for firefighters, who face long hours of grueling work outdoors.
