After an unusually cool and wet spring, summer weather is expected to begin in earnest across much of southwest Washington and northwest Oregon this Friday, continuing through the weekend. For inland valleys, temperatures will reach well into the 80s Friday, possibly even reaching the lower 90s in some locations. Further warming will make afternoon temperatures in the 90s more widespread in the inland valleys over the weekend. Offshore flow will bring sunny skies and warm temperatures all the way to the coast, where highs will be in the 70s and 80s this weekend.
With the hot weather expected, now is a good time to make sure you and your neighbors have a way to deal with the heat. If you have fans or air conditioning, now is a good time to make sure those systems are operating properly.
Given a much-above normal snowpack in the Cascades, rivers are running cold and fast, and will continue to do so this weekend. Nearly every year, people die in rivers in southwest Washington and northwest Oregon due to cold water shock during the season’s first heat wave. Hot temperatures can make the cool water seem tempting, but river temperatures in the 40s and 50s can easily result in cold water shock that can kill in minutes.