Record breaking heat hits West Side, Oregon

SEATTLE – Washington’s first heat wave of the summer is setting high temperature records in Seattle and on the coast.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Burke said Seattle’s high of 90 degrees on Wednesday broke a record for the date that stood for nearly 60 years. The previous record of 88 degrees at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport was set back in 1953. Airport records have been kept since 1948.

On the Washington coast, Hoquiam hit 94, breaking a previous record of 81. Quillayute had a high of 92, breaking a record of 80. Those two records were set in 1996.

Vancouver’s high was 95. High temperatures in Eastern Washington were mainly in the mid-80s to low 90s.

In northwest Oregon, the streak of hot summer weather has broken a temperature record that stood for more than a century. National Weather Service meteorologist Wanda Likens said Wednesday’s high of 93 degrees in Astoria beat the previous record for the date of 90 degrees, set in 1908.

She said the Portland International Airport high of 94 degrees broke a record of 93, set in 1996.

Southern Oregon’s Medford had the state’s highest temperature, at 101.

The Weather Service has extended its heat advisory for northwest Oregon and southwest Washington through Friday evening.

Likens said several spots in northwest Oregon and the Willamette Valley likely will top 100 degrees.