NASA Images Show Heatwave Scorching Northern U.S.

A blistering heatwave has swept across the northern United States and Canada this week, causing swelteringly above-average temperatures across the affected areas.

Regions worst impacted include western Washington and Oregon, as well as British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, which saw temperatures of over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, breaking many early spring records.

The National Weather Service placed a heat advisory from Saturday to Monday for much of western Oregon and Washington. Portland, Oregon, experienced temperatures of 92 degrees Fahrenheit on May 14, beating the previous record for that date of 91 degrees Fahrenheit in 2014.

Meanwhile, Eugene, Oregon, experienced a temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit, and the town of Squamish in British Colombia was even hotter, seeing temperatures as high as 96 degrees Fahrenheit.

Measurements taken from space allowed NASA to create a heatmap of the northwest, showing the gulf between this weekend's temperatures and the average temperature for the time of year. Using data from the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) model of air temperatures about 6.5 feet above the ground, the map is blue in areas where it was colder on May 15 than that date's average, and red where it was warmer. The darkest red zones are where air temperatures were more than 12 degrees Celcius (22 degrees Fahrenheit) above average.

This heatwave has also exacerbated the wildfires burning across Canada in the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia. In Alberta, 88 wildfires were actively burning across the province on Sunday, 23 of which were out of control. There are now 92 fires burning, with 26 out of control as of Thursday.

The smoke from these wildfires has been blown across much of the U.S. North, with NOAA and NWS graphics showing how the plume has drifted across the midwest.

This sudden heatwave is reminiscent of the 2021 heatwave that plagued the same area, with Portland seeing temperatures of up to 116 degrees Fahrenheit in June 2021. That "heat dome" led to the deaths of 800 people across Oregon, Washington and British Columbia.

While this heatwave was thankfully much less extreme than 2021, the NWS is forecasting more hot weather for the coming weekend.

"Friday and Saturday will feel like summer with several locations likely setting new record highs. Upper 80s and low 90s are typical for July and early August not mid May," NWS Spokane tweeted on Wednesday.

"With the chance of Spokane hitting at least 90 degrees on Saturday, we got to wondering, how often 90 degrees occurs in May? Well since 1881 (141 years), only 21 years have reached 90 degrees (15 percent of years) with the most recent being 2017," it said in another tweet.

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