It’s 98F here, way above average for this time of year, with an expected high of 101 today. Tomorrow currently has an expected high of 112. We have electricity, but have cold meals planned for the next few days. My lovely wife moved pots, set up shade cloths, and watered; I’ve engineered the flow of air through the house and later today I’ll water some areas outside. I need to shift my car into the shade and make sure the cats haven’t melted.
You?
Low triple digit temps* are normal here during the summer, so we are kinda used to it. Do you have windshield sun shades? They really do help, I use them year around so I don’t get out of the habit.
Warn your wife that high temps often cause people to over-water so the plants suffer from root rot.
I fill soda bottles with water and freeze them, then stick the opening in the dirt as close to the plant stalk as I can. This helps cool the plant a little and allows it to sip cool water during the day.
If you have hummingbird feeders, I’ve noticed that hummers like syrup straight from the fridge in the summer. I also put ice cubes in the bird bath, but I haven’t been able to tell if the birds like it better or not.
Bees are going to be looking for water, if you put a largish pan full of water all the way on the other side of your yard, that helps keep the bees away from your porch and hummer feeders. I put rocks in the bee water because bees don’t swim very well, so that gives them “islands” to wash up on.
Remember to keep your curtains drawn to keep the direct sun out of your house and stay hydrated. Folks who aren’t used to extreme heat sometimes don’t recognize the early signs of dehydration until its too late. I have a sippy cup and I drink from the time I get up until I go to bed. Drinking ice water helps lower your core temp along with hydration. If you must go outside, a bandana dipped in ice water wrapped around your neck usually feels pretty nice.
Of course I’ve been watching the weather reports and it does look bad. Good luck and take care!
*IMHO there is a HUGE difference between 100F and 115F.
I’m very thankful for A/C. My idiot cat, on the other hand, keeps scratching at the door to be let out.
Portland-It is 103, and supposed to hit 108. 113 tomorrow and 115 Monday.
Hot, humid, and I’m about ready to soak in a tub of cool water.
100 in the valley, higher than the valley floor.
Is there a realistic risk that populated parts of the west coast will become uninhabitable due to heat and wildfires?
No. Most wildfires happen in areas of relatively low population. And Phoenix would get depopulated due to heat long before we do.
I feel for them. We only got air conditioning two years ago, because before that we could cool the house off at night and use fans so the heat would be bad for no more than an hour. But this didn’t work if the heat lasted for three days or more, which was happening more and more frequently. I understand that most people in Portland don’t have AC because they never needed it, which is bad.
How are the temps at night?
The heat that was supposed to hit us in the Bay Area moved north, so I haven’t even needed our AC this heatwave, though we may need it tomorrow.
We depend on the “delta breeze,” which cools things in the evening and overnight. During the day we shut off the front room, where the AC is, and let the rest of the house heat up.
When it’s cool enough outside, we open up the house to cool overnight. In the morning, when we leave for work, we again shut all the windows and close off the front room.
A couple of days ago we were on a short road trip. We stopped in Redding CA to enjoy the sundial bridge. It was 103. Then, driving home down I-5 we stopped in Davis where it was 108. We stopped at a sundial there (hey, I’m a fan) and also at a field of blooming sunflowers to admire them.
Yeah it was very hot. I’m glad the Jeep has AC!
I’m not in Portland, but the NWS is forecasting a low tonight there of 75F, a low Sunday night of 79F, and on Monday night, 67F. Not much relief at night, I fear.
I just moved to Camas, right next to Vancouver in Washington. No A/C but the apartment seems to have been well-built. About 80 degrees in here despite the temperature outside. Not exactly comfortable but I can tolerate this.
The problem I foresee is the relatively high overnight temperature for Sunday night. Just won’t really be able to cool down at all. Moved here from Corvallis which is also being hit but seems to be enjoying better low temps.
I used to live in Oregon and California and traveled between the two fairly regularly. I recall Oregon getting up to about 100 a time or two, and a lot of homes don’t have AC. Still, on most days, upper 90s and low 100s in Oregon in summer is better than 95 in Louisiana or Florida, where the humidity drains your energy. Redding, CA regularly gets past 100, so this isn’t new.
But what is new is that this is happening in late June. State of Jefferson usually doesn’t see triple digits until at least July and early August.
I remember driving between San Jose and Monterey fairly often. What’s a trip is how you can watch the temp gauge drop dramatically. In late August, I remember it went from about 95 in Cupertino, to about 105 in Gilroy and then it just drops constantly when you turn toward the coast. By the time you’re approaching Marina/Seaside it’s like 65.
Yeah, we’re headed for Manzanita tomorrow morning. In the meantime, the AC is running, along with a fan to help distribute the cooler air. No lights on, all shades drawn. We had blackout shades installed on two of our west windows a few years ago, which has really paid off in times like these. The other window on that side has a tree protecting it from direct sunlight. I see that parts of the county have power outages. No thank you. At 7:40, I’m still seeing 102 on the thermometer.
8pm here in central Oregon and it just dropped from 103 to 101. We have a window A/C unit in the living room so it’s only about 82 in here. It’s supposed to get down to 77 tonight.
We intend to put in mini-splits in the next year or two and have whole-house cooling.
In the mean time, we just stay inside as much as possible.
99 in Hillsboro right now, in the shade of a giant oak. It’ll be interesting to see how crowded the beaches are this weekend.
We hit about 105 here in Auburn, just south of Seattle. Our poor dog really wants to go for a walk but it is just too hot. The sidewalk in front of my house is showing 123 degrees.
Oh yes, do NOT walk your dog until the sidewalk is cool enough for you to walk barefooted. Maybe get some dog shoes tomorrow?
Northwest of Eugene here, I am fortunate to have A/C together with a well-insulated house. I spent the day inside celebrating a friend’s birthday by having tea and nibbles with a small group who were also grateful for my cool environment.
Just checked the outdoor thermometer. 79F at present.
Tomorrow we’re supposed to get up to 113F. I’ll put a sprinkler on the heat pump and turn up the temperature a bit so it doesn’t have to work so hard.
Seattle burbs here. We have AC, but a few of the eldest kidlet’s buddies fled to our house this afternoon because they don’t have AC at home. Lot’s of houses have a sunken half bottom floor, which means the windows are above ground, and those bottom floors are reasonably cool in the non AC homes. People sleep down there are the few days a year the temperature gets towards 100F.
Note: people from these parts start bitching and moaning when the thermometer breaks 80F. I grew up in the Sacramento valley and went to grad school in Phoenix the summer it reached 123F, and lived in Asia for 20 years where an awful lot of the summer it would be 90F and 90% humidity. Wailing about the heat around 100F is acceptable, at 83F it is not. 
YMMV
Seattle is projected for 107F on Monday, which even I will call hot.