I like how the official from the National Weather Service refused to fall for the Daily News’ baiting about global warming.
A friend of mine who was a long time Moscow resident said it was common in the 1960s and 1970s to have days reach 100°F. I think I’ve seen less then 10 of those over the last 20 years.
Following the issuance of an excessive heat watch for the entire region starting Wednesday, meteorologists are predicting dry days and scorching highs on the Palouse for the coming week.
Officials with the National Weather Service say temperatures are expected to peak Thursday around 105 degrees, shattering the previous Aug. 9 record of 100 degrees, held since 1972 and closing in on the all-time record high for the region of 109 degrees. Meteorologist Bryce Williams with the NWS said if the forecast holds, Thursday will be the hottest day of the year so far on the Palouse.
“Certainly, we are no stranger to hot temperatures in August,” Williams said. “This is usually when our hottest temperatures of the year occur and our fire season in the northwest is usually peaking.”
Williams said wind patterns are expected to push smoke from fires in California and Oregon into the Palouse over the next few days. While it is difficult to predict the level of smoke coverage for a given day, Williams said the hazy skies expected for the coming week may cause temperatures to drop.“There’s going to be potential for increasing smoke from area fires and that actually could mitigate our temperatures somewhat,” Williams said. “The asterisk to our high temperature forecast for Thursday is just how much, if any, our smoke amount might influence temperatures.”
…
While there’s a good chance that Thursday’s high will be the highest of the year, Williams said it is still too early to say whether there are hotter days ahead. For now, he said he expects these blistering highs to be short-lived.
“There’s no big signal signifying any return of any real anomalous heat like we’re going to see this week in the next few weeks – so nothing in the foreseeable future,” Williams said. “By Saturday, our high temperatures are going to drop into the lower 80s, so that’ll feel positively brisk compared to what we have been.”