SPOKANE, Wash. — In the midst of this week's heatwave, when Spokane is poised to hit 100 degrees or hotter for the first time this year, you might be wondering how often the area sees this type of heat. If you would have asked this question a decade ago, the answer would have been: less than one day per year of temperatures of 100 degrees or more for the Spokane Airport.
Looking at the 30 year average now, that number is exactly one day per year. If you shorten the time span to the last 10 years, that average doubles to two days per year.
We have to go back to 2019 to find a summer when the Spokane Airport did not register a high of at least 100 degrees. The hottest temperature that year was 98 degrees.
The current forecast gives Spokane three days of 100+ degree heat this week, and Tuesday and Wednesday may see record highs broken. The average high for this time of year has already started to fall, and is 85 degrees, so the likelihood of seeing another heat wave of this magnitude after this week would be pretty small. Currently, seasonal forecasts do call for overall above average temperatures to continue through August into October.
WATCH RELATED: Record heat in store for Spokane this week
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