Heat — Southwest Interior, Washington

2023-05-12 to 2023-05-16 · Southwest Interior, Washington

Event narrative

Well above normal temperatures were recorded at the Olympia ASOS in mid-May, breaking multiple high temperature records:

May 12: Record high set at OLM of 85 degrees, breaking the previous record of 84 set in 1949.

May 13: Record high set at OLM of 89 degrees, breaking the previous record of 88 set in 1973.

May 14: Record high set at OLM of 90 degrees, breaking the previous record of 89 set in 1973.

May 15: Record high set at OLM of 92 degrees, breaking the previous record of 85 set in 2007.

May 16: Record high set at OLM of 92 degrees, breaking the previous record of 85 set in 2007.

Wider weather episode

A strong ridge of high pressure brought well above normal temperatures to Western Washington, with a period of high temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s. Many locations broke temperature records during this period. Eventually, onshore flow aided in the recovery back towards near normal temperatures to round out the latter half of the month.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1103535. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.