WASHINGTON, USA — Temperature records have been broken multiple days in a row in the midst of a heat wave that has settled over western Washington.
SeaTac, Seattle, Olympia and Bellingham all set daily temperature records on Tuesday, which was projected to be the hottest day of western Washington's heat wave.
Olympia cracked the triple digits, registering a high temperature of 100 degrees. The previous high-temperature record of 95 was set back in 1985.
SeaTac observed a high of 98, breaking the previous record of 93 set back in 2010. This cracked the top 10 for warmest days ever recorded at SeaTac Airport, coming in at #9 on the list.
On Tuesday, Seattle's high temperature was 97 degrees, and Bellingham's was 88, both setting new daily temperature records.
Olympia hit 99 degrees on Monday, breaking its previous daily temperature record of 95, set back in 2010. Seattle and Quillayute also broke their previous temperature records with highs of 91 and 87, respectively. Sea-Tac tied its previous daily temperature record of 95 degrees set back in 2010.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport also set a record-high minimum temperature on Monday. The low temperature was 67 degrees and ranks 18th on the list of 20 warmest nights ever recorded in Seattle. Seventeen of the top 20 warmest nights have happened in the past 20 years.
Records broken over the weekend include SEA Airport with an observed high of 93 degrees, breaking the previous daily record of 90 degrees. Olympia hit 97 degrees, breaking the previous daily record of 95 degrees set in 1953 - 71 years ago.
The National Weather Service noted that the low temperature for Paine Field in Everett was 73 degrees at 4:30 a.m. on Monday morning. A low temperature at or above 70 has only been recorded twice in 76 years.
Temperatures at Mount Rainier also reached an unseasonable peak, sitting at 57 degrees at Camp Muir at 11 p.m. on Friday. Friday Harbor, which is 10,000 feet lower in elevation, was also at 57 degrees at that same time.
Before the heat wave is over, Seattle could see four consecutive days of 90-degree temperatures, which has only happened about a dozen times in the last 60 years.