Most of those who died in the Portland area were older, lived alone and did not have air conditioning. Photograph: Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Reuters A detailed scientific analysis found that the occurrence of that heatwave would have been nearly impossible without human-caused climate change.Ī man rests on a cot inside a cooling shelter during a heatwave in Portland, Oregon, last year. Most of Oregon’s deaths were concentrated in Portland, which reached an all-time high of 116F (46.6C). A deadly heat dome in the region last summer brought record temperatures and killed about 900 people in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. The heatwave arrived as the climate crisis fuels extreme weather across the world. “To have five-day stretches or a week-long stretch above 90 degrees is very, very rare for the Pacific north-west,” said Vivek Shandas, professor of climate adaptation at Portland State University. He said there were 32 such visits to emergency departments on Monday compared with three to five a day before the heat wave began. “Heat-related illness daily visits are above expected levels statewide,” said Jonathan Modie, lead communications officer at the Oregon Health Authority’s public health division.
Oregon health officials said there has been an uptick in the number of people reporting heat-related illness in emergency departments and in the number of those calling emergency services numbers for similar symptoms. In Seattle, temperatures set a new all-time high for Tuesday of 94F (34.4C), breaking the previous record of 92F (33.3C) from 2018, according to the National Weather Service.Įlsewhere in Washington state, record daily temperatures were also registered in Bellingham and the capital Olympia, which experienced 90F (32.2C) and 97F (36.1C) respectively. Much of the region is facing extreme heat this week with parts of Oregon and Washington state under excessive heat warnings.
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