This week might be one for the record books.
Starting Tuesday, a steadily worsening heat wave settles on Southwest Washington, bringing with it a predicted high for the week of 106 degrees on Thursday afternoon.
If that forecast holds true, that day will tie July 28, 2009, as the second-hottest day Vancouver history. The city’s hottest temperature on record was the next day, when the city reached 108, according to the National Weather Service.
Thursday is expected to be the hottest day of the week, but it is by no means the exception. The weather service has issued an excessive-heat warning through 11 p.m. Friday and a Red Flag warning for multiple fire-weather hazards in Southwest Washington until 11 p.m. Thursday.
Tuesday is expected to reach a high of 99 degrees. The forecast for Wednesday calls for a high of 105 degrees, with Friday’s at 100.
Residential garbage collections will begin earlier than normal in Vancouver and Clark County. Waste Connections will begin their regular routes at 6 a.m. Tuesday through Friday.
The Camas Farmer’s Market has canceled its Wednesday market.
The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission is urging people to be extra cautious with campfires and to obey possible campfire restrictions when visiting state parks.
The elderly, young children and animals are particularly vulnerable to the severe weather. The weather service is urging those people to drink plenty of water and find a cool place to escape the heat.
“(Temperatures of) 107 or 108 inside a house with no air conditioning can be fatal,” said Gerald Macke, a metrological technician with the weather service.
Movie theaters, libraries and the mall are always options. Macke said the coast will also have cooler temperatures, but only within a mile from the shore.
“The roads to the coast will be packed, I can almost guarantee,” he said, urging people to go early in the morning or late in the day.
AAA Washington also has issued a news release reminding people to not leave their kids or their pets in an unattended car, even if it’s parked in the shade or has the windows open.
Last year, 39 children died of heat stroke in the United States because they were left in a vehicle, according to the release.
Macke said the high temperatures are unusual, but the weather phenomenon causing them is not. Several times a year, a high-pressure system from the south circulates hot, dry air out of the deserts of Nevada into the Pacific Northwest.
“Heat spells are not that unusual — the severity of this one is,” he said.
Temperatures are expected to fall back to normal this weekend. Saturday’s forecast calls for a high of 90 degrees, with Sunday’s at 85.
“Warm, but not life-threatening like this other stuff,” Macke said.
