Summer weather is crossing a dangerous threshold in the southern Willamette Valley as heat, fire risk and drought converge.
A brief reprieve brought light rain and cooler temperatures to Eugene and Springfield in recent days, but temperatures are expected to climb rapidly through the weekend into early next week — possibly hitting triple digits. The National Weather Service has issued an extreme heat watch for the area from Sunday afternoon through Monday evening.
Meteorologists like Hannah Chandler-Cooley at the National Weather Service’s Portland office use a heat risk framework developed with the Centers for Disease Control to inform such watches. The Willamette Valley falls into one of the highest heat risk categories due to health concerns and the likelihood that overnight temperatures won’t cool enough to offer relief…