Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Eastern Adams County's Only Independent Voice Since 1887
Ritzville may reach 114 degrees today
SPOKANE – It's going to be a record-setting day, in terms of high temperatures that is.
According to National Weather Service meteorologist Laurie Nisbet in Spokane, the region should set all-time record high temperatures this afternoon.
Nisbet this morning went through decades of weather data for several small towns within the Free Press Publishing readership area from Spokane to Pasco and Odessa to Colfax.
In Colfax, today's recorded record high is 100 degrees, set in 1939, she said. The all-time recorded high is 110 degrees sent July 7, 1939.
The Weather Service no long has a weather broadcasting system in the city – the Colfax station stopped broadcasting in 1994 – so, today's expected records will likely be recorded at a station in nearby Pullman or St. John.
That's one of the issues with comparing records, she said, noting weather stations come and go, sometimes providing very accurate data, sometimes not so much. So, record temperatures are only valid for the period a station may have been in operation.
The St. John station began operation in 1963, she said.
There, data shows the hottest temperature recorded June 29 was 96 degrees. The all-time high for St. John is 108 degrees, recorded on Aug. 9, 2018, she said.
In Pullman, the record temperature was 110 degrees; today's high there is expected to fall short, but still reach 106 degrees, according to the National Weather Service's Internet-based forecast.
In Adams County, a record all-time high temperature is expected to be set today, Nisbet said.
On this day, the hottest temperature recorded in Ritzville was 107, set in 2015.
But that's far short of the record-high ever reported. Records show Ritzville's hottest day in recorded history was Aug. 5, 1961, when the temperature soared to 112 degrees.
The high today is predicted to top that record and reach 114 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
The National Weather Service has two reliable data streams from Lincoln County, Nisbet said.
On this day in Odessa and Davenport, a record high of 101 degrees was recorded in 2015, she said.
While the cities' daily highs are the same, their all-time highs are quite different.
Davenport's hottest day was recorded July 26, 1928, when the temperature hit 105 degrees, she said.
The forecast for today calls for breaking that record by 7 degrees, for a high of 112 degrees.
Odessa hit 112 degrees twice in its recorded history, she said. Those record days were July 28, 1939, and Aug. 4, 1961.
Odessa's high is forecast to reach 114 today.
The National Weather Service does not operate recording stations in Cheney, Medical Lake or Airway Heights.
But Nisbet said it does record information at Geiger Field.
Today's record high of 98 was recorded there in 1939, she said. Geiger Field's all-time high is 108 recorded Aug. 4, 1961.
The Geiger area is forecast to set a new record today at 110 degrees.
Temperatures in the West Plains region, however, pale in comparison to records set in the Tri-Cities.
The hottest June 29 on record was in 1904, when the temperature there hit 107 degrees.
The all-time record in the Tri-Cities, however, is much hotter.
The record there is 115, set three times in history – Aug. 10, 1898, July 27, 1939, Aug. 10, and two days ago on Sunday, June 27, 2021.
Today, the high temperature is expect to inch beyond that high and top out at 117 degrees.
But it won't be much cooler in some other cities. Sunnyside, Moses Lake and Omak are all expected to reach 116 degrees today.
And Walla Walla, Lewiston and Yakima are forecast to reach 115.
If you're wondering what will be the hottest place in the state today, the National Weather Service says it's the Hanford Site.
There, the high today is expected to reach 119 degrees, which is the hottest predicted temperature in the nation.
Roger Harnack is co-owner and publisher of Free Press Publishing. An award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher who grew up in Eastern Washington, he's one of only two Washington state journalists ever to receive the international Golden Quill for editorial/commentary writing. Roger is committed to preserving local media, and along with it, a local voice for Eastern Washington.
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