Currently in Portland — August 14, 2023: Welcome to triple digits

The weather, currently.

Here it is, the dreaded heat wave. Right when some of us were settling into fantasies of fall, a truly dangerous stretch of days in the 100s is upon us. Monday is shaping up to be the worst of it, with a high temp around 105 (your Portland microclimate will have an impact on the exact temps you see.) We’ll get a bit of breeze on Monday, but not enough to make a dent in the heat.

Perhaps even worse than the daytime temp is that overnight lows are only dropping to 72—not nearly cool enough to recuperate from the day. Make sure you’ve got a plan for how to stay safe, and look out for those around you, too. Put out water for the critters, a cooler of water for any deliveries or mail that come to the door, and if you’re able, check on neighbors, too. (That includes unhoused neighbors.) Everyone is going to need some extra help getting through this week.

— Stella Harris

What you need to know, currently.

This week will feature temperatures as high as 110°F (43.3°C) in Oregon for several consecutive days. Although daytime highs won’t likely surpass the incredible June 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave — which had an estimated 1-in-10,000 year recurrence interval — overnight lows are expected to stay warm, and add to the danger of this event.

Red flag warnings are in effect for the entire length of the Cascades, from southern Oregon to the Canadian border where many areas are currently in a severe drought. Stray thunderstorms are in the forecast, and any fires that start could quickly spread out of control.

“There is high confidence in a dangerous heat wave in the Pacific Northwest,” warned the National Weather Service over the weekend. “Locations in the interior valleys and lower elevations of western Oregon could see one of their hottest five-day stretches on record (by average temperature), with 100+ degree highs likely.”

Firefighters across Washington and Oregon are currently battling 7 large fires and have boosted their preparedness level and prepositioned people and equipment to deal with more, if necessary.

—Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

The fires in Maui have struck at the heart of Hawaiian heritage, and if you’d like to support survivors, here are good places to start:

The fires burned through the capital town of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the ancestral and present home to native Hawaiians on their original unceded lands. One of the buildings destroyed was the Na ‘Aikane o Maui cultural center, a gathering place for the Hawaiian community to organize and celebrate.

If you’d like to help the community rebuild and restore the cultural center, a fund has been established that is accepting donations — specify “donation for Na ‘Aikane” on this Venmo link.