Willamette Valley temperatures will rocket toward record levels Thursday and Friday while wildfire danger ramps up and air quality could degrade.
The National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning from noon Thursday to 10 p.m. on Friday as temperatures rise toward 100 both days in Portland, Salem and Eugene.
The hot and dry weather will bring increased fire danger and east winds will likely to cause wildfires to grow and bring smoke into western Oregon.
The type of extreme wildfires that took place in September of 2020 and 2022 are not currently forecast.
Willamette Valley will get very hot, but not quite a September record
Temperatures over 100 in September are very rare in the Willamette Valley, as the average high is around 80 degrees in Salem, Portland and Eugene.
“I don’t think we’re going to break the September record, but it’s still a very rare event,” NWS meteorologist Miles Higa said. “We’ll be nearly 20 degrees warmer than normal.”
The last time Salem, Portland and Eugene hit 100 degrees in September was Sept. 2, 1988. That record-setting day brought temperatures of 104 to Salem, 103 in Eugene and 105 in Portland.