Hottest Days Ever
Hottest Days Ever in the Inland
Northwest
Ron Miller and Steve Bodnar
Every location has it's own "hottest
day ever". Individual sites all have their record hottest temperature ever.
But it's difficult to determine what was the hottest day for a regional area,
since not every town hits it's all-time record on the same day. The table below
shows some selected cities in the Inland Northwest.
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Temperatures
at Other Cities During All-Time Record Event of City in Left Column
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City
|
All-time Record
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Spokane
|
Omak
|
Wenatchee
|
Wenatchee Airport
|
Ephrata
|
Lewiston
|
Pullman
|
Colville
|
Republic
|
Ritzville
|
Sandpoint
|
Coeur d'Alene
|
|
Spokane
|
108
8/4/1961, 7/26/1928
|
|
*102
|
*103
|
*109
|
*115
|
*115
|
*110
|
*107
|
*102
|
*112
|
*100
|
*109
|
|
Omak
|
109
7/27/1939
|
105
|
|
109
|
M
|
M
|
117
|
M
|
104
|
107
|
110
|
100
|
106
|
|
Wenatchee
|
110
7/18/1941
|
102
|
106
|
|
M
|
M
|
112
|
98
|
99
|
M
|
109
|
100
|
100
|
|
Wenatchee
Airport
|
109
8/4/1961
|
108
|
102
|
103
|
|
115
|
115
|
110
|
107
|
102
|
112
|
100
|
109
|
|
Ephrata
|
115
8/4/1961
|
108
|
102
|
103
|
109
|
|
115
|
110
|
107
|
102
|
112
|
100
|
109
|
|
Lewiston
|
117
7/27/1939
|
105
|
109
|
109
|
M
|
M
|
|
M
|
104
|
107
|
110
|
100
|
106
|
|
Pullman
|
110
8/4/1961
|
108
|
102
|
103
|
109
|
115
|
115
|
|
107
|
102
|
112
|
100
|
109
|
|
Colville
|
109
7/23/1994
|
98
|
106
|
103
|
103
|
102
|
104
|
101
|
|
103
|
104
|
104
|
M
|
|
Republic
|
108
7/2/1924
|
102
|
M
|
M
|
M
|
M
|
106
|
M
|
105
|
|
106
|
101
|
100
|
|
Ritzville
|
112
8/4/1961
|
108
|
102
|
103
|
109
|
115
|
115
|
110
|
107
|
102
|
|
100
|
109
|
|
Sandpoint
|
104
7/23/1994
|
98
|
106
|
103
|
105
|
105
|
105
|
98
|
107
|
103
|
104
|
|
M
|
|
Coeur d'Alene
|
109
8/4/1961
|
108
|
102
|
103
|
109
|
115
|
115
|
110
|
107
|
102
|
112
|
100
|
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* Temperatures were used from 8/4/1961
From the table above, the date which
emerges as the hottest day across the region is August 4th, 1961. Every site
in the table experienced triple digit temperatures on that day except for Bonners
Ferry.
The August 1961 event was typical
of most heat waves in the Northwest. The image below shows a very hot 500mb
(~18,000 ft elevation) ridge of high pressure over the western U.S., with the
high centered over southern Idaho. A nearly stationary low was located off-shore.
By the afternoon of the 3rd, the
high has strengthened and remains centered near Boise.
At 850mb (~5000 ft elevation) the
temperatures on the 3rd reached 34C near Boise, with the 28C temperatures reaching
the Spokane area.
High temperatures on that day were
well into the triple digits at nearly every location.
By the 4th, the ridge had begun to
shift to the east as the off-shore low began to move towards the coast.
The following day saw a dramatic
warmup, with 32C temperatures reaching the central Panhandle.
High temperatures on the 4th set
several all-time records. The 118 degree temperature at Ice Harbor Dam remains
the hottest temperature ever observed in the state of Washington.
During the night of the 4th, a weak
cool front moved onshore. The weather map below from 1961 shows the cool front
in British Columbia with light rain showers on the coast. This map was drawn
at 10pm PDT. Note that it was still 91 degrees at Spokane even at this late
hour.
One of the more unique facts of this
heat wave was the sudden jump in temperatures on the 4th. The official observation
for Spokane was moved to the International Airport in 1947. Since that time,
the all-time record temperatures are shown below.
| Date |
Temperature |
| 04 Aug 1961 |
108 |
| 03 Aug 1961 |
103 |
| 12 Jul 1967 |
103 |
| 08 Aug 1972 |
103 |
| 27 Jul 1998 |
103 |
| 23 Jul 2006 |
102 |
| 13 Jul 2002 |
102 |
| 12 Jul 2002 |
102 |
| 05 Aug 1998 |
102 |
| 22 Jul 1994 |
102 |
Note how while the warmest temperature
was 108, the 2nd warmest was 103 set on the previous day (August 3rd). The 2nd
place temperature has since been matched 3 more times, but nothing has come
close to the warmest temperature on record.
It should be noted though that 108
was also reached in Spokane on July 26, 1928. However, the location for the
official temperature in 1928 was downtown Spokane, which is about 400 feet lower
in elevation that the current airport location. On a typical summer day, this
equates to about 2 or 3 degrees of warming at the lower elevation. In otherwords,
if downtown Spokane reached 108 on that day, then the future location of the
Spokane International Airport probably saw a reading of about 106 degrees.
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