Heat Dome
2021-06-29
The murmurs started the week of June 21st - The Greatest Heat Wave In Northwest History?. The most seasoned and experienced researchers with the highest quality data started seeing something that could only really be described as apocalyptic heat. Portland reaching 120F, Seattle 110F. These are temps so far beyond the records that they’re inconceivable - the only time I’ve ever seen 110F was a visit to Arizona. This area never gets above 95.
"the forecasts are simply insane"
I didn’t really believe it was going to get that hot, these were the upper bounds of the projections after all. But the weather pattern being described was so out of the pale that… well I ordered an A/C for the first time despite living in this area for over a decade. I expected it would get into the high 90s, but probably not 100s, and definitely not 110+.
Boy did it get fucking hot.
"Heat apocalypse. What more can be said?"
It was hot, everyone knows that. But what was it like? After all, lots of the country and world sees these kinds of temperatures, what’s the big deal? Sure it broke records, but it wasn’t like it was 130 or 140 or something.
The big issue is that virtually nobody up here has A/C. Stores and hallways of apartments will usually have some, but nothing like the southwest. My apartment was 94 degrees on Sunday and Monday (the two hottest days), and still in the 90s the prior two days. The only way to cool it down is to wait for the nighttime and stick a fan in the window and pray it can move enough air to cool the house down to 85 before noon the next day. A few people I know (and a neighbor across the alley) put up mylar or aluminum in their windows, hoping that reflecting sunlight and keeping windows closed would insulate enough to keep cool - i hear it helped, but there’s only so much you can do when the air is 110 degrees outside.
I had a little picnic cooler and a water bladder, i’d fill the bladder with icewater, stick a couple icepacks in the cooler, and sip on it constantly throughout the day. I took cold showers every couple hours, and soaked t-shirts in cold water and wore them in the house (i’m a little overweight, so the thought of wet t-shirt contests wasn’t lost on me) so that the fans would wick some heat off me. But there’s not a lot of respite when the interior is so close to body temperature.
On the two hottest days I just went to my car and cruised around aimlessly for a few hours each. On the hottest day, after two hours of driving, I got in line at a busy Chik Fil A, and waited in the drive thru for 45min, quite happily.
The night afterward (this previous night), weather whiplash. It went from 111 in my town to 65 over the course of 12 hours. The highest temperatures ever recorded, followed by the fastest cooling recorded.
One for the books
We survived. Miraculously, I haven’t seen any reports of heat-related deaths or hospitalizations. It seems as if we were all very uncomfortable, but that we survived.
