SPOKANE, Wash. — The historic June 2021 heat wave which set all-time records all across the Pacific Northwest has now officially set one more record: hottest temperature in Washington State History.
Upon verification, Hanford, WA, which is located northwest of the Tri-Cities in southern Washington, hit 120 degrees Fahrenheit on June 29th, 2021 is now the record for highest temperature ever recorded in Washington. The old record was 118 degrees, which happened twice. First in Wahluke in 1928 and then again in Ice Harbor Dam in 1961.
When temperatures reach extremes like this, they need to be verified and validated before officially going down in the record books. In this case it was the State Climate Extremes Committee who verified this temperature reading.
The Heat Dome that produced the hottest weather of all time was centered over Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia that whole week in June. And several cities record their own all-time record highs including Spokane which hit 109 degrees on that same date: June 29th.
In Canada, Lytton, British Columbia hit 49.6 degrees Celsius (121.2 degrees Fahrenheit) which set the nation-wide record high temperature for Canada during the heat wave.