Page 2. The Rest of the Story

In an homage to veteran radio newscaster Paul Harvey, here’s my attempt to bring closure to this week’s blog subject, the Seattle heatwave. Actually, this was a news and weather event for the entire Pacific Northwest with record-breaking, never before seen triple-digit hot temperatures.

Here’s what I learned from the Associated Press website:

• In the state of Washington, emergency rooms treated 1,792 people for suspected heat-related illness. Twenty-one percent of those ER patients were admitted to the hospital. 
• The death toll: 30 in Washington and 79 in Oregon and the number is expected to be revised higher.
• Monday of this week had the most emergency room visits–702. That day was the hottest day of the heatwave, with many cities seeing never-before highs in the triple digits. The official high for Seattle on Monday was 108 F, and in Portland, it was 116 F.
• Weather-casters say the cause for the record-breaking temperatures spiking more than 30 degrees above normal was a “heat dome.” A strong high-pressure system that just hovered for days. (Not my idea of “the days of summer” for sure.)

The AP story concluded with, “Experts say the hot weather is a harbinger of things to come as climate change affects global weather patterns.” 

Buzzkill. Guess we’d better get ’round to buying some AC before August shimmers in.

For the entire AP News story plus a slide show–https://apnews.com/article/canada-heat-waves-science-health-environment-and-nature-1cbf39f77f0dd0d60f1477ef30951610

A Public Service Announcement

One last thought before I close out this storyline at the beginning of a long holiday weekend. The Pacific Northwest seems to be particularly dry right now (the heat dome didn’t help matters) making the area prime for wildfires. 

You can help prevent wildfires, skip the fireworks this year.

Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday weekend. Stay cool and read–perhaps the Constitution in honor of the nation’s founding. 

Featured image credit: APnews.com

Debora Ragland Buerk
The Write Stuff
Looking at life from a different POV.