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‘Dangerous, Unprecedented’: The Record-Breaking Heat In The Pacific Northwest

A man cools off in the Salmon Street springs fountain in Portland, Oregon as a heatwave moves over much of the United States.
A man cools off in the Salmon Street springs fountain in Portland, Oregon as a heatwave moves over much of the United States.

Typically, you wouldn’t want to hear any of these words in the weather forecast:historic, dangerous, prolonged, unprecedented.

But that’s exactly how the National Weather Service chose to describe the record-breaking heat currently being experienced by millions in the Pacific Northwest.

It got so hot, that at one point the U.S. Olympic trials in Eugene, Oregon, had to be postponed as the trackside temperature closed in on 150 degrees.

We talk about the historic temperatures in the PNW and their connection to climate change.

 

Copyright 2021 WAMU 88.5

Rupert Allman