SEATTLE – People living in the western U.S. are enduring a heat wave that has led to some being hospitalized as the temperatures are expected to reach perilous levels over the weekend in Washington, Oregon, Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona.
Approximately 1.2 million individuals were under significant heat risk on Saturday, indicating that temperatures are projected to remain dangerously high without cooling off at night. The largest area under the warning encompasses Tucson, Arizona, where the National Weather Service anticipated hazardous highs ranging between 102 and 107 degrees Fahrenheit (39 and 42 degrees Celsius). Inland areas of Southern California also faced severe risk.
Another 18.6 million are under major heat risk, affecting workers and anyone without regular cooling and hydration, including in Miami.
Portland, Oregon, recorded an all-time high for Aug. 22, as per preliminary data. Enduring the intense heat were long-distance runners passing a baton in a relay from inland Mt. Hood to the Pacific Coast.
At least one long-distance runner, part of a team of athletes over 50 years old in Portland’s annual “Hood to Coast” event, lost consciousness and was hospitalized on Friday after covering 4 miles (6.4 kilometers).
David Loftus does not remember fainting, but he mentioned that his companions told him it occurred right after he passed his baton. “A stranger noticed me wobbling and caught me before I hit the ground,” Loftus said.
When he regained consciousness, he noticed an ambulance had arrived to attend to him. Loftus, a Portland-based writer and amateur actor, stated in a phone interview on Saturday that despite hydrating and dousing himself with water prior to his leg of the race, it wasn’t sufficient. He was observed overnight at a hospital but has since recovered.
The preliminary report of 102 degrees in Portland, if upheld, would break the 98-degree (36.7-degree Celsius) high for August 22, set in 1942, according to the NWS.
Around the time Loftus took the baton, the City of Portland and the surrounding county published a notice of an extreme heat emergency. That day, 911 calls and emergency visits were up.
“Typically, we see a single visit or no visits. Yesterday, we had 16 visits, six of them from Hood to Coast participants,” Brendon Haggerty of the Multnomah County Health Department said in an emailed statement Saturday. “The Portland metro area is facing the highest heat risk of 2025.”
The inland Oregon city recorded a high of 116 degrees (46 Celsius) in June 2021. More than 100 people died in the surrounding area during that heat wave. The majority of the victims lived alone, and the vast majority were 60 or older, but the youngest was 37, officials said at the time.
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