Whatcom remains under heat advisory as high-temp record falls. Here’s the forecast
Bellingham saw its first temperatures of the year above 90 degrees as a heat wave that’s searing Western Washington is apparently just getting started.
Meanwhile, concerns for wildfire smoke drifting south from British Columbia have air-quality officials on alert.
A high of 90 at Bellingham International Airport on Tuesday, July 26, broke the record of 86 degrees from 1988.
Today’s forecast high is 82 degrees, below the record mark of 90 from 1958.
But there’s also a better than 50% chance of a high above 85, and it was already 72 degrees at 8 a.m. because of the high-pressure ridge that’s baking the entire West Coast.
Meanwhile, the unseasonably warm temperatures will now linger into the weekend, according to the latest weather forecasts from the National Weather Service in Seattle.
“Although the pattern upstream from the Pacific Northwest shows the promise of relief from the persistent heat, there still looks to be enough of a continued ridge/subsidence influence to make for one more hot day across the area on Saturday,” said meteorologist Carly Kovacik in the online forecast discussion.
Thursday and Friday, July 28 and 29, should be the warmest days of the week as a heat advisory remains in effect across Whatcom County.
Much warmer temperatures are expected for inland areas.
To help people cope with the heat in Whatcom County, where few homes, apartments and public buildings have air conditioning, government officials have posted a list of places where people can keep cool during the day.
Air-conditioned libraries in the Whatcom County Library System include Blaine, Deming, Everson, Ferndale, Lummi Island, Lynden, Kendall, Point Roberts and Sudden Valley, the county said at its general news website on Tuesday, July 26.
Other air-conditioned locations include Base Camp in Bellingham, Lynden Community and Senior Center, Ferndale City Hall, Ferndale Public Library, Pioneer Pavilion in Ferndale and the East Whatcom Regional Resource Center in Kendall.
As if to make matters worse, smoke from wildfires in British Columbia is drifting south. For now, that smoke is staying in the upper atmosphere, but air-quality officials in Whatcom County are watching it.
“Our monitoring manager expects smoke to stay aloft for the next few days and not have a major impact at ground level,” said Seth Preston, spokesman for the Northwest Clean Air Agency.
Air quality in Whatcom County should be in the good to moderate range, Preston told The Bellingham Herald in an email.
This story was originally published July 27, 2022 at 9:38 AM.
